Hunter And Hunted
by mehya
Summary: Sakura has seen to many backs in front of her, when the last ones she sees dies, she is ready to start over. She is ready to start being a real shinobi! Her quest for Sasuke is on a roll now but what's this! ...Itakun. My brother, he said bitterly.No...
1. Hidden

**Mikomi:** O My…Noob NARUTO 3 whoot whoot and I'm am so fucking sorry for taking A Second Chance To Love down I need to do something about it cause my writing style has changed dramatically since then :'( well have fun reading this and RAR as in Read And Review for you dopes. 

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Title: Hunter and Hunted Genre: Humor&Romance&Action/Adventure 

**Rated:** M because Mikomi wrote it and because mature content :)

**Disclaimers: **I at least own Sakura's new last name (spoiled) and her dad and mom and Tenkotsu :D but the rest are not mine v.v

**Warning:** There are two: 1) they swear. A little. 2) they fuck. A little? OO

**Setting:** aroundish episode 140 I seriously don't recall…O.o

**Etc.:** um..not really.

**Chapter :** Hidden

"Sakura-san…"

Although Tsunade's demeanor was grave and the possible upcoming subject could be the worst Sakura would ever hear for the rest of her life, she was absolutely oblivious to the situation. Her eyes flickered only slightly but the rest of her face was brightly glowing with happiness. Tsunade wondered if it was even worth telling her something like this, she seemed like she was living the perfect life, however that was not so true. Especially the recent occurrence with Sasuke. Why did it have to be her to bear the life-ending news?

-I guess it comes with the responsibility of being Hokage…-

"Hai." Sakura acknowledged respectfully and mechanically. She was asked to meet the Hokage but what for she had no clue. She guessed that it was because her progress of becoming chuunin, or lack thereof. Or maybe Tsunade wanted to tell her about her great progress in becoming a medic nin. Sakura knew that she wasn't cut out to be a bona fide shinobi. She had absolute no potential at all and yet her parents had practically begged her to do her best. Okay, so she knew a few basic ninjutsu and genjutsu but she was nothing compared to Naruto…and Sasuke for that matter. Her breath hitched at the thought of him.

"I'm aware that you have just returned from the mission issued to look over the raids on the outskirts of the country border, I expect that all fared well?" the Hokage asked, almost trying to start a normal conversation.

"Hai, everything seems in place and so far the raids have stopped."

"I hear that you were also able to meet your parents there."

"Yes, they're doing fine too," Sakura wasn't sure where this 'normal' conversation was leading to anymore. A couple days ago, she was sent with Neji and Shikamaru to skim along and see how they, her parents and other jounin, were faring, although, she had no idea why she was sent on it, Shikamaru had passed on and became an official chuunin and even though Hyuuga Neji was still a genin, they both surpassed her extremely. Why was she sent along with them?..

"I see," this was making it very hard on her to tell Sakura but sooner or later, she chose to pick the lesser of the two evils, "Sakura-san, your parents…they're…gone."

She was still deep in thought when Tsunade was speaking then she heard something about her parents and snapped from her thoughts to listen in again.

"Sumimasen, Tsunade-sama, I beg your pardon?"

Tsunade, a little shocked that she hadn't reacted the way she had expected, sighed, "Sakura, your parents are dead."

She watched the news hit her like a brick. Her eyes flickered violently, changing from her previous bright green to a much darker and ominous jade. She wanted to scream but her attempt proved to fail, like everything she tried at. Nothing resonated in her throat at all. The tears came slowly at first, they grew bigger and the flow quickened a bit until they were streaming off her face like she had stored them up for this particular reason. She hiccupped and her sobbing became louder, she couldn't even control it anymore.

Tsunade bent over to hug the small child. That was all she was and so much was expected of her. Sakura cried into her big bosoms and didn't stop.

On the other side of the door, Neji stood straight and rigid from the sounds Sakura emitted as pain. What was happening to him he didn't know… he just knew that over the course of time they had been visiting the outskirts of the country, during those three months, during the time she had spent with him, something had happened.

He heard the door open and turned around surprised when she ran right into his arms by accident. She was still crying hysterically and she just needed someone to hug. She hadn't expected to get one so soon because as she walked out the door, too consumed in her pain, she hadn't noticed that she fell right into Neji's embrace. She didn't bother to resist when he wrapped his arms around her small waist and held her tight. This was what she was looking for wasn't it? Then why didn't it feel quite right?

"We should have stayed," she managed to mutter between sobs, "But what good would I have been! I'm so pathetically weak, why was I even sent on the mission, Neji? I am so weak…"

"You're not weak, Sakura-chan," she noticed he had added an additional suffix to her name; she looked up to his pearly lavender eyes, searching for any hope in them. He took his thumb and wiped her tears away, "You are so strong."

For a moment she almost believed him, if she hadn't remembered that her parents were dead and he was looking at her lips really hard. She pushed off his chest and ran as fast as her scrawny legs could take her. Sakura pushed open the main doors and ran into the streets of town, not caring if people saw her like a wreck or not, she was seen like it often anyway. She let her emotions control her so much that she could never really be a ninja. Her parents shouldn't have forced her, she was no good, couldn't they see that? No matter how much she made an effort to be strong, she would always end up falling even harder! A ninja wasn't supposed to cry all the time, enemies won't hesitate to kill her if she was just teary-eyed, never mind sympathize.

-And to think they called Naruto a failure! They haven't even seen me yet!-She choked on her sobs, she didn't want to remember now, all her friends, that were no where in sight now. The pain of it all together twisted her heart wrathfully. She zigzagged through the streets of town and hoped that she would make it back home without interference, without anything stopping her, without hurting more than she already was. Soon, she spotted a familiar cherry oak door with the number 64 on it and a lucky charm hanging innocently in front. She tore open the door ferociously and slammed it shut. She did everything but crawl up the stairs and hid herself under the sheets of her bed, trying to cry herself unconscious.

"Sakura!" Neji called after her. Tsunade decided to step out at that time and laid a hand on Neji's shoulder. She nodded at him dismissively, "Playuh."

Neji wasn't sure how to reply to that and just watched the Hokage walk leisurely the same direction as Sakura.

"If I had been stronger, strong enough to defeat Orochimaru, Sasuke would still be here, and there would be no war since Konoha's defenses were so weak. Because I was so weak."

"So you wanna be strong?" said a voice on her windowsill. Tsunade felt she had to take responsibility over the girl. One she was her faithful student in the arts of being a medic nin, two she was the Hokage, three, and most importantly, the girl reminded her of herself just too much.

"More than anything, I've lost everything, everyone I love just because of me. Because I am so feeble, so pathetic, so weak," she began sobbing again, "I'm always only in the way."

"Oh really?" Tsunade said, almost teasingly, "Would you like to change that?"

"Don't you have work to do, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked trying to change the subject and trying to get her to go away, wondering if someone like her really could become like someone like Tsunade-sama, "Why would someone like you help someone like me?"

"Because I was just like you." It was only too true; everyone she loved was taken away from her because she wasn't strong enough to save her love of her life and her dearest brother.

"Tsunade-sama, there's nothing you can do to make me stronger," Sakura said truthfully, "I have no potential left to get any stronger. I am nothing. You're nothing like me"

"We'll see about that."

Sakura turned to look at the Hokage, who was already looking deep into her own jade eyes, searching if she was telling the truth, "Why don't we start now then?"

"Huh…"

"Come on now," Tsunade took her hand and dragged her out of her house and to the training glade, the place where team 7 and Kaka-sensei first trained with the bells, the place where they passed and became genins. But now she was still a genin and Naruto was off training with Jiraiya and Kaka-sensei was on constant missions around the border. It's been nearly two years since then and it brought tears to her eyes again just standing there, -What kind of shinobi cries like a child?-

"First, sit down and let me explain some things."

Sakura hesitated to comply but did as she was told. She sat down like she was sitting down for dinner with her legs tucked neatly underneath her and her head bent down to glare at the grass.

"I use to be in a team with Jiraiya and…" She narrowed her eyes agitatedly, "Orochimaru."

"So I heard," Sakura replied, interested.

"And out of those two boys, I was the strongest," she smiled as memories flashed back to her.

"How is that possible?" Sakura's voice was pleading to know, she was very interested now, she knew that Tsunade-sama had inhuman powers but she was stronger than Jiraiya and Orochimaru? "Is it from birth?"

Tsunade laughed lightheartedly, "No, no, actually, I trained much harder then those two dweebs would ever train. But also, I had the least amount of chakra of the two, so it's hard to believe, ne? It's amazing that they've gotten this far in life and even…" She decided not finish that sentence, "I heard you have spectacular chakra controlling abilities. So all you need to do is train some more, and what better than to train with someone with inhuman strength!"

Sakura didn't believe, she made it sound so simple, so easy. What good would training do her now? It was far too late, she would have to go to the Academy and learn to become a shinobi again was what Tsunade was insisting, "But don't you have your respon—"

"They can do without me few a while, don't worry!" She smiled but Sakura didn't quite like the smile she gave her, "Now let's begin, hm, I want you to run from now till the end of the day, by then if you haven't completed 1000 laps then hmm, well we'll see then alright?"

Sakura's jaw dropped, -A thousand? I'll never do it…but if it's the only way to become stronger than I'll do whatever it takes!- She had never completed that many laps in her entire life, mainly because she never bothered to train so hard. She nodded and got up to run to the edge of town to begin her laps, sometimes Tsunade would run along her side and they would have casual conversation about Tsunade's childhood. Most of the time when Sakura was slowing down, Tsunade would edge her on with hurtful words.

"Move it, Sakura! Is that how you're expecting to save Sasuke? Is that how you're going to avenge your parents?" And it seemed that Tsunade knew exactly the right buttons to push. All day without rest Sakura ran with the beat of her heart until the sun began to set. She was sweltering in the days' heat as she rounded her 904th lap, extremely exhausted but not quite ready to give up, she had too much to lose to stop now. Her pace was more like a stroll now and she was running on raw energy, all the energy her fat was, was now completely wasted. He green eyes were half-lidded and dull and her pale skin was rosy with training. But she never stopped.

-I've…Never…Done…So…Many…Laps…- she even paused after every word to breathe while she thought. Her parents would have been so proud…if they were alive. Her pace kicked up a notch…or two. Tsunade watched from afar and smirked when she saw Sakura sprint the rest of the way. She had more potential than she ever dreamed she could have. But she had a great incentive. It was almost midnight when Sakura collapsed on the ground. Her breathing was haggard and her appearance was disheveled.

Tsunade poofed beside her and picked her up, "Oi, Sakura, you aren't done yet!"

Sakura could hardly hear the Hokage talking. Something about 40 more laps to complete. Sakura struggled to sit up but her elbows gave out and let her face hit dirt. She groaned into the warm ground but shivered or rather fidgeted from fisting her hand too hard. Her punctured wounds went unnoticed; she was too lost in the feeling of being a failure to be aware, "I can't do it…"

"Hm?" Tsunade frowned sadly. She had hoped that Sakura would be the one determined enough to be her student.

"I can't do it!" She shouted with her last shred of energy.

"I must say, Sakura," Tsunade began, "You had me when you started, I thought you really were going to show potential you kept hidden away."

"I told you, I have no potential…" Sakura reminded her bitterly.

"However, your potential was shining brightly inside of you when you ran your heart out there," Tsunade said with a faint smile, "But now it's faded but it's still there. I'm disappointed in you. You came so far and in the end, you decide to stop?"

"I didn't decide, Hokage-sama!" Sakura protested loudly, "I had no choice but to fall to the ground, I have absolutely no energy left to run…"

"And you have enough to backtalk me, young kunoichi. And you have enough energy to think up of things to say as well; you have enough energy to breathe, to blink, and to move, and to run. Now, if you didn't focus on thinking and speaking, think of how much energy you would have! Harness it and manipulate that power to its greatest ability, that is how you will achieve strength like this…"

Tsunade turned to one side and dropkicked into the ground, splitting it open and shaking the earth. As she lifted her foot, the ground shrunk back to it original self, "Whoops, maybe I shouldn't have done that right here, right now…"

Sakura watched her new sensei giggle nervously at the destruction she had just made, luckily outside of the village. With new determination, she managed to stand up and start running again. She didn't say anything anymore, and her mind was completely clear. She completed her remaining laps within the hour and had enough energy to jump of and yell, "Yatta!" in the middle of the night.

"Excellent, Sakura," Tsunade rewarded with a warm smile. Sakura felt so relieved to have stopped finally, but something told her it wasn't quite over yet…

"Alright, Sakura, it's time for bed. Wake up early tomorrow—err today, we're going to go get a haircut," Sakura blinked and nodded in agreement. Her bubblegum hair had grown back to its original length and if she was going train like this, she would definitely need a haircut.

"And maybe shopping too," Tsunade winked at her mischievously. After all, once a girl will always be a girl.

"By the way, Sakura…" She had almost nearly forgot, "Prepare to face the consequences tomorrow for not completing the laps on time."

-Ohh…that's right- Sakura groaned but nevertheless nodded and mustered up her best smile in the situation.

That morning…

"AHH!" Sakura shrieked at the contact with water. She was soaking wet in freezing water and her sheets were too.

"I told you to get up early," Tsunade said sternly, either that or matter-of-factly. She was standing above her with a tin bucket of water that she suspected wasn't quite finished yet. Sakura sat up before Tsunade had another chance to pelt her with the rest of the water.

"Gomen, Tsunade-sama, I wasn't aware that you meant 5 o'clock," Sakura replied sleepily.

"Hurry up and get ready, we have a lot of things to do," Tsunade said but it sounded more like a warning. Sakura slowly nodded and pulled all her sheets off her bed and threw them in the laundry machine. Her muscles were aching from the running yesterday. Every bone felt like it was sore to the marrow when Sakura limped her way to the washroom. She tried her best to strip of her clothes and climb into the shower stall, she pulled the switch and let the hot water pellets soak into her skin delightfully, almost forgetting that her parents were no longer of the same realm as herself. Then she wondered if it was the same about Sasuke, nonetheless, she couldn't let this bother her, no matter how much it irked. A real shinobi has to learn to control his or in this case _her_ emotions. But it still hurt so much.

The hot shower managed to ease the ache, for the most part. She dressed and brushed her teeth and shortly after, left the bathroom with new energy that, hopefully, would last the day. Tsunade sat impatiently on her bare bed and stood immediately once she returned, "Come, come, we better hurry or we'll waste the whole day!"

Tsunade took her hand and poofed in front of a salon only Sakura could guess where Tsunade got her trims. They stepped into the salon as a burst of cool air washed through them freshly. Instantly, the hairdresser squealed at the sight of Tsunade-sama and all but pushed the poor woman into the vinyl, pink seat, "Would you like the usual? Or do you feel dangerous today, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade chuckled nervously and got up from the seat and held a hand out to Sakura, "Tenkotsu, please, meet my new apprentice, Haruno Sakura."

"Ah, Sakura-chan, please, please, sit down," his face was plastered with a cheesy smile as he too pushed her into the pink vinyl seat. Sakura felt like this chair needed to have some seatbelts because suddenly she felt like an accident was just waiting to happen. She saw Tsunade pull the hairdresser away and whispered something while he nodded passionately. He returned to Sakura and twisted her chair around cleverly so she wouldn't be able to see just what kind of abomination that would become her hair. After a few torturous moments and a couple of snips her and there and the sizeable clumps of hair on the ground, he turned the chair around expertly and revealed to her…a masterpiece?

Her hair was ridiculously short, well maybe not that ridiculous but rather short all the same. She had baby bangs and hair the length that didn't even reach the nape of her neck, however, it was very liberating, "Wow."

"Come on, we have some shopping to do!" Tsunade dragged her out of the little salon hastily, before Tenkotsu pressed charges on them.

"I can't believe that so many places open so early," Sakura looked around in awe, all the good stuff was still in stock at this time of day. Tsunade had instructed her to pick some clothes fit for mobility and agility and comfort as well. By the end of the time limit, Sakura came out with a whole new wardrobe. A fishnet mesh tee on the inside with a white, turtleneck, sleeveless, top and black khakis, one size up for her completed the outfit and some other accessories for herself. Her forehead protector was newly placed around her neck, concealed by the turtleneck. Tsunade approved of her garb and dropped the bags off at Sakura's home. They made their way to the glade again with uncomfortable silence that ate away at Sakura's soul.

"Now for your punishment, Sakura-chan," Tsunade smiled almost maniacally, "But first, I have good news!"

Sakura was almost relieved.

"Sakura, I've noticed that you have impeccable compatibility with the element wind and water," Tsunade commented placidly.

"I do?"

"Hai, it's quite uncommon, Sakura to have two elements so agreeable with you, that I have to ask, what kind of lineage do you have?" Tsunade was as curious as ever. She wasn't quite sure how to judge Sakura quite yet, although she had just started training her to become a medic nin as of a while ago, she had never taken the opportunity to get to know the girl a little bit better. This side of her hadn't shown until she had been put through extreme physical circumstances of last night.

"Nothing really, my father wasn't born here," Sakura averted her eyes but she did not let the tears that began welling up beneath her eyes to fall, "That's why my eyes are green like nobody else's."

"Exactly, my dear," Tsunade concurred.

"My father, well, I don't speak to him personally often, but I know he was a genius and that's what he gave me," Sakura said proudly, "And my mother, she was from here, but I don't know much about her fighting style. Her name is Ryuuko."

"As a matter of fact, I think I know your mother individually," Tsunade blushed, "I wasn't sure if she was your mother or not though, but I do recall a girl named Hikaru Ryuuko."

"Oh, you do?" Sakura was surprised to hear this because her mother had never mentioned Tsunade to her before.

"Yes, believe it or not, I use to be a sensei too, for one team, and your mother was my student," Tsunade vaguely remembered.

"She was just like you and just like me, strong and fiery," Tsunade chuckled at the fond memories, "Right after she became a jounin, I left to travel around the country, drinking, gambling, you know me."

And she thought Jiraiya was bad.

"She had deep violet eyes and your flowery pink hair, but like you are now, she had short hair and the boys on our team would make fun of her for looking like a boy," again Tsunade chuckled feeling nostalgia wash over her. It was nice to talk to Tsunade-sama about her parents, someone who knew about her mother as much as she did.

"Who was on your team?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.

"You want to know?" Sakura nodded, "Well, actually, do you know my to guard dogs? Genma and Hayate?"

"Your henchmen?" Tsunade laughed loudly at her view of her personal delivery boys.

"Those two were the two immature boys that still work under me," she said as though she had never really noticed, "And it makes me really miss Ryuuko after all these years," Tsunade gave a long, loud sniffle, "She was like a daughter to me."

Sakura was speechless, Tsunade probably knew her mother better than herself! She smiled knowing she wasn't the only one with this feeling.

"I'm still wondering though, what your father might have been before," Tsunade returned to subject. Sakura never wondered why her father had such piercing green eyes before, it never occurred to her that maybe she was some part of another race.

"I don't think your father is who we perceive him to be," Tsunade examined, "My educated guess is that your father and now you are part of a bloodline limit, unknown to Konoha."

"Then why am I so weak?" Sakura asked, even pitying herself.

"My guess is that since I only discovered this side of you that it only shows when you are in intense physical stimulation," Tsunade replied logically, "Your aura seems to emit very powerful readings Sakura, it seems like your power is likely to be extinct."

"You mean like the Uchiha clan?" Sakura asked eagerly.

"Yes, I suppose just like that," Tsunade would have to study into this further. On the other hand, Sakura had no idea how much she and Sasuke had in common now. Maybe unlike her father told her once that he wasn't brought here but he ran away to take refuge here when he was young, maybe her clan was obliterated too and he was the soul survivor like Sasuke. Now that her father was dead, she was it. If people knew though, whoever tried to genocide her clan would be after her too. She had to be cautious and protect herself, and to do that she was purposely here to train with Tsunade-sama and not idle chit chat.

"So, Tsunade-sama, what is my punishment?" Sakura asked bravely.

She watched as her newly found sensei beamed, "I'm so glad you brought that up, Sakura!"

-I'm not…-

"Your punishment for today will also help you train your balance," Tsunade almost sneered. Almost.

"It has to do with this book."

"A book?" To say Sakura was slightly confused was maybe an understatement?

"Yes, you see for the whole day, whatever you do, you'll have this book on your head. But! If you drop it, another book will be added to the one already on your head. Understood?"

"Hai." It seemed easy enough to her, just as long as she can keep one book on her head, it will be easy sailing all the way. Little did she know…

"Your first task today is 500 pushups, then 500 sit-ups, if you finish those before lunch, I'll treat you to lunch at the new fancy restaurant, ne?" Tsunade bribed. The training seemed similar to Lee's method; only Tsunade-sama gave time limits, unbelievable time limits. But then again, she was talking about _THE_ Taste no Tenshi Restaurant, she and Ino had been doing everything but sneak into that restaurant ever since it opened. She nodded vehemently and got to work. She placed the book on her head carefully, not really expecting it to weigh 20 pounds! How she was going to keep the book from falling off while she did sit-ups, she had no idea. She had made it passed the pushups by quarter till 11. So she stopped a little to scrutinize her situation. She wondered if there were any ways to make it easier for her not to drop the book. She remembered everything Tsunade had instructed her and she reran the scene over and over in her head, then she took notice of the book. It was just a normal book. Then she began to wonder what it was about but it was a little late to be wondering since it was on her head and it couldn't come off until she finished training. She recalled looking at the cover of the book and the title of it and what it was obviously about, 'Chakra Control.'

-That's it!- Chakra control, something she could even expertise in, she remembered the time team 7 were controlling their chakra by running up the trees and she had succeeded well in that even though she could do it for only so long. She had to circulate her chakra correctly until there was enough chakra for the book to practically stick to her head.

She maneuvered her chakra flow to the crown of her head and began her sit-ups, doing them as fast as she could to withhold the book. Her stamina was ever so limited. It was difficult to keep her stamina up, having the book nearly slip sometimes, lunch was really closing in and she had to finish before her stamina gave up. Around her 478th sit-up she could feel the book slipping when she dipped her head back down, -NO!- her inner self screamed as she tried to conjure up as much chakra left in her as possible, it was still slipping. I can't give in now, if this one book fell during sit-ups, imagine 22 more falling. She traveled deep within herself to pull out some power, if any at all. She wouldn't give up, Sasuke was counting on her, Otou-san and Okaa-san were counting on her to pull through! With her newfound willpower, a new surge of chakra ignited in her chakra circulation and Tsunade didn't miss a beat when it happened. Sakura finished, letting everything go, including the book and with less than 5 minutes to spare.

"Good job, Sakura!" Tsunade remarked, "But… you dropped your book, so I hope you're a heavy headed eater." She laughed aloud, something Naruto would have done but Sakura laughed along and it was so nice to feel this way after the recent year.

-I think I'll enjoy training with Tsunade-sama-

"Come on now, get that book back on your head and lets go get something to eat, I'm famished!" The hokage said dramatically and led the young kunoichi to the promised restaurant for a tricky meal of two books.

The food there was just as good as the reputation as they scarved down the food and waited to negotiate the price after.

That night, after she put all her new clothes away and threw out all the old ones, after she put out new sheets on her bed and drew a warm bath of ruddy red spring water, she slipped in comfortable and relaxed her aching muscles of that day's events. She had ended up with eight books after another thousand laps, which was relatively easier for her today. Did that mean she was already getting stronger? She hoped so. And she was glad she found someone like Tsunade, she reminded her of herself and it made life easier nowadays too. The whole day she had books on her newly cut head and forgotten all about it, she took her dainty hand and rubbed the crown of her sore head, it still felt liberating even after hours. She immersed her head into the water and washed off all the day's grime and dirt. Tomorrow it would be all the same again but maybe it might be different, she never knew when it came to Tsunade and it was thrilling living like the next day would be entirely different. Unlike her daily routine she had before. Now she was a full time student of the Hokage. She had found someone just like her just like Naruto found Jiraiya and Sasuke found Orochimaru.

She wondered back to her father and what Tsunade had said that morning. Maybe she was wrong, her father was just a normal foreigner and her talents were just a combination of her mother and her father's. But curiosity said otherwise. After draining her bath, she slipped into a short and pale green yukata. She tiptoed to her parent's room like they were still in the house and pulled the screen open silently. She walked cautiously in the room like it was booby-trapped and went to her father's side of the bed. Universally, it's known that all men, young or old, hid their secret belongings under their mattresses. Sakura lifted the mattress gently and like she predicted, there was a book and a small box. She removed the things and gave a little prayer to her father, begging for forgiveness for taking his things.

She brought the possessions into her room and turned on her desk lamp to briefly look over the book and box. She flipped the book open to the first page and began to read:

_I've decided to begin keeping a diary; I have so many thoughts since I first escaped._

Escaped? So she must be on the right track with her initial presumptions. She read on:

Our clan has been wiped out but it seemed so sudden, they fought dirty! We never had a chance to prepare ourselves and now I have nothing left. I am content that I have found a suitable place to inhabit but how long until they find me? I know that they will come after me; I'm the last of the clan. But I'll never let them take me, never…

Koizu Mikate 

-Koizu.-

She heard a light rap on the door downstairs and turned to look at the hanging clock on her wall. It was almost nine-thirty, who would come here at this time? She closed the book and shut the door to her room.

On the other side of the door, Neji stood with his head bent down to look at the doorstep intensely. He wondered if she was home now, he had come a little late on purpose because last time he came at 8 o'clock and she still wasn't home yet. Then that night, he could have sworn he saw her come home at a quarter past 1 in the morning. He wondered where she could be at a time like that. He waited a little while more and then unexpectedly, the doorknob turned and Sakura stood clad in a supremely short pale green yukata that brought out the colour of her eyes and a more humanly skin tone instead of her usual godly pale skin. She was shocked to see him at first but her expression soon melted into a smile, "Konban'wa, Neji-kun."

"Konban'wa," he replied warmly. She invited him in and led him to the dining room and went to fetch some tea. He had never been in her house before, but it felt a lot more like home than he could ever feel in his own house. She returned shortly with a steaming kettle of tea and two cups. She placed the tea tray down and sat across from him.

"What brings you here so late, Neji-kun?" Sakura inquired curiously but kept her expressions under control.

"I was worried," he replied shyly with the obvious pink tint painted athwart his cheeks, "I saw you coming home last night really late."

"Oh! Don't be worried," Sakura said reassuringly. From the last time he saw her, she had completely recovered from distress. It was like her parents had never died.

"What were you doing so late anyway?" he asked seriously.

"I was training, of course," she answered earnestly and took the kettle to pour him another cup of tea.

"For the chuunin selection exam? But Sakura-chan…" Neji didn't know how to continue. He had never been in a relationship yet and he hadn't quite uncovered what this irksome feeling was.

"You're too worrisome, Neji-kun!" She flashed him one of her teasing smiles. He liked those smiles even though they made him blush deeply. Hyuuga Neji had always been a steadfast person, since when did he feel such petty emotions? He was strong and silent, he was always reserved and composed, the kind of person you would never catch picking their noses or farting. He was talented with one of Konoha's strongest clans, and almost died trying to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. Why did this pink-headed girl make his knees buckle and his heart skip a beat?

"Oh, I noticed you cut your hair," Neji pointed out.

-Oh…I was wonder when this was gonna come…-

"Hehe, does it make me look like a boy?" Maybe he was the wrong person to ask, considering his hair was longer than hers to begin with.

"No, you look…" he paused to blush again, "beautiful."

"Arigato, Neji-kun, you're so sweet," Sakura purposely made his heart flutter and she could see it by the expression he was giving her. Who woulda thunk? Hyuuga Neji getting all dopey with her.

"How are you feeling anyway?" he asked before she could kick him out.

"Much better, thank you, um," Sakura stammered a reply, "I'm sorry for rushing into you like that after my discussion with Hokage-sama…"

"It's okay," Neji's face turned somber again, "But I never want to see you like that again."

She appreciated that he was so kind and sweet to her, like Lee, but she knew that she would just break his heart too, she always thought her luck with love, especially with Sasuke, was horrible and just look, she already had a waiting list. Naruto, Lee, and Neji too now…-Sasuke, are you still worth it?-

That question went unanswered. For now at least.

"It's getting late, Neji, and I've had a long day training today," otherwise known as, 'Get the hell out of my house now, see you tomorrow… maybe.'

"I understand." He smiled, totally oblivious. She walked him to the door, absolutely aware that he wanted to kiss or at least hug her good night. She gave him a hug and bade him fare night.

That morning, she congregated with Tsunade with the newly found possessions of her father. She had read further but it gave her no other clue as to whom he was or who she was for that matter. She looked through the box with scarce objects, just pictures of him and her mother, a picture of her and a necklace with the clan insignia. She had always wondered why there was a ring on her uniform. It reminded her to stitch one on before leaving to meet with Tsunade. She now had a black ring above her chest to which she left empty to reveal her modest cleavage and one bigger one on her back.

She showed her the book and the belongings and asked if they could do a run through any clan names called Koizu, "Now that you say it, I think I do recall a legend of the Koizu clan on one of my trips."

"What legend?" Sakura asked.

"Well, it went like this. The clan of Koizu actually came from the Wind Country, probably where you inherited your double ability. They weren't a prominent clan but they did have a powerful bloodline limit called Shinganbyuu, mind's eye view, it's a mind reading and controlling attack. In the case, it also predicts the future and multiplies the amount of chakra in the user's body by 100 folds when set in motion, surely giving the Sharingan a run for its money, ne?" Tsunade joked. Sakura giggled, imagining with wonderment the result of a combat battle with Sasuke or even Kakashi with her bloodline limit activated.

"That means you have it, Sakura-chan! And there you were blubbering about weakness! I heard it was the strongest clan in the Wind Country! You know what this means don't you?" Tsunade almost squealed.

"Iie…"

"We'll have to train extra hard to actually stimulate your bloodline limit! This is amazing, with the type of training I can provide," Tsunade wondered, "You'll be the strongest ninja ever heard of!"

Sakura couldn't believe it. She? The strongest ninja ever heard of? It had never even crossed her mind; she had never possessed any talent to lead her to believe anything like this could happen. But why would her father hide this from her. Was it because he was afraid that if anyone knew they would try to kill her, if it was like what Tsunade-sama said, if she would actually become as such then surely, people from all over the world would try to stop that from happening. If they knew that then she would be taken down. So she understood why her father had done that.

"Tsunade-sama, I wish that you won't tell anyone, I see why my father has never told me," Sakura pleaded quietly.

"Of course, the consequences of such power would be fatal," she agreed with a smile of assurance. "I'll look into this a bit later, but what I'm wondering about is, how come signs of your powers haven't developed noticeably yet? I mean at this age, you should be already wielding it like Sasuke and the Sharingan. I'm curious, maybe your father might have performed a seal on you?"

"I don't know, I've never seen anything on me that strikes as odd before," Sakura admitted bewilderedly.

"Maybe because it's somewhere you can't see," Tsunade proposed. Sakura nodded in accord. She watched the Fifth close her eyes and concentrated a lot of chakra around her eyes; she snapped open her eyes and looked at Sakura pensively. Her eyes widened as though catching something and turned Sakura around. Sakura felt Tsunade perform a seal behind her neck and poked her stiffly there with her two pointed index fingers from her clasped hands. A shocking blue light electrified from the seal on Sakura's neck and went ablaze into a searing blue fire. It was painless to Sakura but to Tsunade, it seemed quite painful.

"Are you all right?" Sakura asked disconcertingly.

"I'm fine." The seal appeared and it was broken, the blue spark on her neck was the unleashing of her power, "Do you feel any different?"

Without answering, Sakura began to shiver violently. Tsunade whipped her around to see her head bent down. Suddenly, she snapped her head up, her eyes were glowing and so was the inside of her mouth, the glow grew harsher, into a blinding green light. Sakura's chakra veins were pulsing with a rush of new power, she could feel it flowing within her body and blazing her insides with ecstasy and excitement.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Tsunade-sama, are you okay?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Tsunade remarked, "Looks like that seal was holding back quite a lot, but your power won't go unnoticed Sakura."

Sakura nodded. She knew and she could already feel the magnetism of trouble in her.

"From now on, your training will be thrice as hard," the Hokage shortly added with a satisfied smirk when she saw Sakura's face go pale. "For now, I think there's a taijutsu expert we need to visit to borrow some weights."

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"Did you feel that?" the pale man asked his two henchmen.

The loyal-er of the two replied with a, "Hai." And the second one didn't care to reply at all. The pale man, evidently their master, chuckled lightly at the surge of power that faintly swept through. It was barely there, like a ripple of water when a feather fell into a pond. But it was there, and all though not many could feel it, he felt it and his subordinates felt it, that was proof enough that it actually existed. Maybe he would seek this new power out, the thought of how far the transmission of power traveled made him shudder, slightly, and it didn't go unnoticed by the curt entity other than the twisted man himself and the lapdog he carried around with him. Something that frightened _him_ was something all right…

A cloaked man along with his cloaked colleagues snapped their necks to the direction of the sudden surge, "Did you feel that?"

No reply. Obviously, it was felt.

"Oi, did you feel that brat?" the perverted senile man asked his younger counterpart. They had stopped cold in their tracks of training to concentrate on what just passed them. A mediocre ninja would just think it was a strong wind, but _he _was no mediocre ninja.

"No…It's just the wind, Ero-sennin," the blonde rookie responded lightly. -Ah, you baka…-

The jounin turned around in mild surprise. He was holding his copy of Icha Icha Paradise and was trying to block out the other jounin present with him inanely glorifying himself with his stupid haircut and his straight and unbearably and blinding, white teeth. Not to mention the unusual amount of hair, which he called his eyebrows when he felt that ridiculous quantity of power filter through the land. –What the hell was that?-

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**Mikomi: **I'm finally done! I've never written so much in my life like Sakura has never run so much in her life! OMJC! Well aside form my mental illness during the whole time writing it, I enjoyed it very much and I hope you do too and my funny muscle is kinda flabby lately so I'll work on it "peeps" (is that how you yahooligans spell it?)I drew some picture of Sakura-chan I guess you guys can go see it when it's up on my far out new site, which, let me remind you, is NEW so some of the stuff is not working quite yet P I'll get my guestbook up and you guys can vandalize that if you want just no flames, please, cause you'll be fighting fire with water :o …RAR MWAHS you fervent, keen, avid, ardent, eager, enthusiastic, passionate, zealous and fanatical readers. That's why we're here right? We're fans… :S


	2. Party Animals I Miss You

**Mikomi: **DUDE where's my cornpops? Hey folkies chapter t-woooo for you. Summary: Naruto get's pwned :D And Neji too :O oh my Jesus Christ, sorry to those who are Christian and/or Roman Catholic. Betcha don't know what type of pairing this is I'll let you guess and if you guess right I'll give you a shoutout on my page and if you include your email I'll send you a supa-kawaii msn display pic, made my the uno et only Mikomi. So knock yourselves out trying. BWAHAHAHA-Ha? No. On with teh story…

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Title: Hunter and Hunted 

**Disclaimers:** everything from last time

**Chaptuh T-Wooo:** Party Animals. (I Miss You)

"Y-Y-Yondaime?" the guard stammered at the blonde pre-adult. He was taller than the guard himself even though he was much younger; his blond hair stuck out by nature and his swirling blue eyes just as recognizable as ever. The man even acted like him, he was like an exact replica, that or the real Fourth was standing right before him. Immediately, the guard bent down to his knees and bowed respectfully, a couple of times. The young male cocked an eyebrow and rubbed the back of his head, he couldn't help but blush at the attention he had never received before. He turned to the white-haired man behind him and gave him a questioning glance, the older of the two shrugged with a sheepish smile plastered on his face.

Naruto turned back with wide eyes to the guard who was _still_ bowing. He chuckled nervously, "I'm not the Fourth Hokage."

"That's impossible, if I may say so, Hokage-sama, you're exactly like yourself!" Exclaimed the guard without a doubt.

Naruto shook his head, "It's me, Naruto."

"Naruto?" the guard jumped to his feet and examined him closer, "Is that you?"

The blonde man nodded vehemently. The guard sighed and released them. Naruto gave him a sheepish grin and restlessly stepped back into his home village. –Konoha, it's been too long- he thought, taking in the familiar attractions. The smell of Ramen wafted his way and up his keen nostrils as he inhaled deeply to savour the delectable scent. Without even warning, Naruto bolted from Jiraiya's grasp and toward his oh so favourite Ramen stand. Jiraiya sighed but nonetheless glad he too was home. Three long years since he's step foot back on Konoha soil and it felt comforting to just be in the presence of familiarity. He looked up to the rock cliff where the faces of previous Hokage's were carved expertly in. –Speaking of Hokages, time to pay a certain one a prolonged visit- he smiled tenaciously to himself. If his nose wasn't bleeding because of how Tsunade looked, it'd be cause she punched him in the face with her inhuman powers.

He made his own agenda to visit Tsunade and separated from where Naruto and him were last together. –Damn it, kid, three long years of training so you better be some good- he knew that what he was thinking was just teasing because he also knew that Naruto had excelled excellently during the past years, he was just giving the poor kid not enough credit.

"One miso with everything in it," Naruto's aged voice perked up. Even though it had changed a little somewhat, it was still a little screechy when he needed it to be. Aside from that, he sounded very manly. The old man whipped his head around and stared at Naruto with eyes as wide as they could get at his age.

"Naruto!"

Ayame, the daughter of the old man, turned around and let her jaw go slack, "NARUTO?"

"Yeah, it's me," he said conceitedly. However, the reaction he had hoped didn't exactly happen…

Ayame squealed her girly voice all the while pinching his cute new dimples, "Wow, you're all grown up! You look so handsome, Narutoooo!"

Naruto squirmed under her control of his cheeks, either it was turned red from her excruciating pinching or because he was blushing at what she had said, "Yeah, I'm finally home to see just how much my training has paid off."

"That's great! One miso with everything in it on the house," the old man ordered.

"Can you guys save it for later? I have to go surprise everyone else!" Naruto shouted happily. He slid off the stool of the ramen house and ran off in the direction of downtown, only turning back to wave them bye. Turning the next corner, he could have sworn he saw a bleach blonde bun and an unforgettable bunchy, black ponytail. He leapt up on to a roof to get a birds eye view of the two lovebirds it seemed as he sneered at their linked arms. They seemed to be walking out of a restaurant talking merrily with each other. Out of the blue, an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning that made him snicker copiously. He followed the pair going in the direction of the examination arena, concealing his chakra so they wouldn't notice that their assailant was following them closely, in a more secluded area, where the village people didn't loiter the streets, he decided to carry out the plan, "Oi! Ino-pig!"

"What! Who said that!" Ino demanded. Her smoky blue eyes hardened into a glare, she looked _very _offended. Naruto smirked at his victims, Shikamaru was not as angry but Naruto could already read his thoughts, 'How troublesome.' In a blink of an eye, Ino was gone and Shikamaru stood dumbstruck, grasping the air where Ino's hand use to be. Above him, Naruto held his prey captive, his hand over her loudmouth. He twisted her around to let her see who her kidnapper was, she gasped and he could feel it beneath his hand. Naruto grinned deviously and put one finger to his mouth to indicate her to be quiet once he released her. She slowly nodded and his hand was removed from her mouth.

"Naruto," she whispered, "It's really you."

He nodded and looked back down at his other friend who was now annoyed at her disappearance.

"What's up?" she asked, a confused expression on her older face.

"Just play along," he insisted but before she could ask, he yelled out, almost lustfully, "Mmm, Ino-chan" he groaned exasperatedly and signaled for her to give it a go. Her eyes were bulging but she complied to follow suit into the game. She mewled believably and moaned now and then to express her supposed ecstasy. Naruto pretended to growl and roar with her and punch the building rhythmically and Ino would moan louder and louder with each one. They looked over the side of the building to view the now livid Shikamaru, desperately trying to find his lover. Ino did a heart-piercing scream as they "climaxed" and watched the young man on the streets below flew upwards. He found them on the top of a building fully dressed and rolling in laughter. His anger dissipated into embarrassment as he joined into the laughter and greeted his longtime childhood friend and elusive prankster, "Naruto-baka!"

"Yo," Naruto grinned mirthfully.

Jiraiya reached out carefully as to not give away his position. It felt like this was his hundredth try without giving himself away, -Damn, she's paranoid as ever!- Slowly, ever so slowly, he crept silently for a closer distance from his target. Finally, he gave it a little squeeze and heard it screech like a little girl it use to be. He giggled perversely and scampered off like a little sneak, "Hee hee."

The woman of his objective was infuriated, he wasn't sure if she was boiling red with complete rage or complete embarrassment. She caught him with ease and gave him an expected, although powerful, punch to the nose. Her anger subsided as she straightened herself out to regain some regality. His muscles fidgeted profusely from his awkward landing and his bleeding nose was bleeding more than so because of the added enjoyment of groping her full, round buttock. He was still giggling pleasantly until she hovered over him cautiously, "Jiraiya, you fool, what do you think you're doing!"

He didn't fully register what she was saying; he was too distracted by her unclad cleavage. She stomped on his eyes and kept her feet there, waiting for his pathetic reply.

"Why, I'm just humbly greeting the Hokage, what else?" He answered innocently. Tsunade rolled her eyes and released him and stalked away, "Oi! Where are you going?"

"To the ANBU Selection Exam," she replied curtly.

"Aren't you going to wait for Naruto? He's probably on his way here," Jiraiya suggested, buying him some more time with her and her body.

"I doubt it, by now he's probably being led to the arena by his friends. Come," Tsunade said smiling deviously. –What could that hag be scheming at?- He decided to comply, if not only for the sake of being in the presence of her beautiful person.

"What are you planning, Tsunade?" he asked somberly.

Tsunade sneered, "You'll see."

Like he guessed, she did have something up her sleeve. He frowned; he didn't like it when she had a plan, because they were usually and scathingly brilliant. He followed her anyway; he could take whatever she was about to hit him with unless it was her fist. They leapt from roof to roof across the village to the examination arena in welcomed silence. He looked at Tsunade, her honey-glazed eyes promising an unwanted surprise. They arrived at the stadium together and entered with majestic presence only the three Sannin possessed and the Hokage. She led him to the judging area. There, he recognized Morino Ibiki and Mitarashi Anko as the other judges, and also the chuunin exam proctor, how expected. Naruto, who entered and spotted them right away, soon joined them.

"Naruto-kun!" Tsunade yelled out in excitement.

"Hey, Tsunade-obaachan!" Naruto reached them and hugged the old woman loosely.

"Sit down," she offered and he complied without question. She looked at him with a smile plastered across her face, he looked like Yondaime so much that it almost made her genuinely smile. Naruto was so oblivious; he just smiled back at the Hokage, then to Jiraiya, who had one eyebrow cocked like it was stuck. He gave him a question glance and Jiraiya pointed to Tsunade with a chilly look across his leathery face. Naruto scratched his head dumbly as Jiraiya smacked his forehead.

"All right, Tsunade, you prolonged this long enough, what the hell is up?" Jiraiya demanded rudely. She glared at him scornfully and motioned her hand towards the field below.

"Take a look for yourself," Tsunade retorted.

Both men peered over and looked from the exam proctors to the examinees. There were two lines of four people, in the line of the examinees, there were two unknown shinobi from another area, Hyuuga Neji, the Hyuuga prodigy, and last but least, a rose coloured hair of a Konoha shinobi. They couldn't recognize her, her face was half-masked like Kakashi and she was too far away to see her clearly. She was garbed in ANBU apparel consisting of fishnet tee and black breast armour, she wore black rubber capris and there were straps all over her. On the left side of her hip, was a dangerously unsheathed katana and on her left leg was a holster for the rest of her weapons. On either elbow were strapped on metal pads. Her fingers were wrapped in bandages and her wrists and ankles were adorned in heavy weights Naruto recognized as Lee's. A necklace was wrapped around her neck several times and hung loosely on the end was a familiar insignia, Naruto just couldn't figure out where from.

"Tsunade-obaachan, who is that last shinobi there?" Naruto asked.

"I'll let you figure that out, you'll get to see her in battle later," Tsunade replied, not giving them the least bit of a clue. They observed her carefully but she was just to far away to determine who it was.

"So how does this part of the exam work?" Naruto asked instead.

"This is the last course and their purpose is to fight these former members of ANBU, if they are successful then they are passed immediately, but if they kill them then they are immediately disqualified. Of course, the ANBU members will edge them on emotionally so that they try to kill them, but the point is to control their emotions. But they must also demonstrate to us that they can effectively take them out, it's actually quite hard to keep from killing them but then again, it's even more difficult to try to, these are professionals," Tsunade explained. Naruto was too confused –so the point is to kill them… but not?-

"Why, Naruto, shouldn't you be down there?" Tsunade teased.

"Why should I?" Naruto grumbled. Tsunade laughed aloud at him, irking him even more.

He had forgotten to pay attention to the battles when he began incessantly chatting with the other familiar judges until it was Neji's turn. To Naruto, Neji looked a bit like a nervous wreck, in actual, Neji didn't even want to be there, even his uncle protested when he said he was going to become ANBU. But becoming ANBU would defeat the whole purpose of joining it anyway, the consequences were emotionally severe. It meant that any settling down with family was completely out of the question, and he had been planning to the exact thing with Sakura. But Sakura was determined to become an ANBU member, so if he was going to do it, he was doing it for her sake.

He stepped up for his turn to battle, his opponent was Kurenai-sensei. Already he had gained a major disadvantage, Kurenai knew he was a Hyuuga, it was quite obvious, never mind a genius one. Although Neji couldn't perform Hakke manually, if he could get some wire around Kurenai, the battle would be over in an instant. He activated Byakugan without any seals and observed his adversary's chakra circulation precariously and watched her move to throw her shuriken at him. With lightning speed, Neji whipped out a single kunai and deflected all shuriken and threw the kunai at her. It landed square in her chest but she was replaced with a puff of smoke and a log in it's place, -so it was just a distraction, she's attempting for a close contact!- With his peripheral vision, he spotted Kurenai in midair, holding a kunai with both hands for major impact. Neji evaded the attack and managed to close one of her tenketsu holes in her arm, effectively paralyzing it. Kurenai landed unevenly and growled in annoyance at her handicap, "Damn, I won't let that happen again."

She raised her capable hand to perform a one handed jutsu, a water attack expertly formed from the water particles in the atmosphere and formed into a shape of a tsunami. The water engulfed Neji in it but instead Neji presented an effective shield to block out the water. The arena was now an Olympic sized swimming pool. He forced his chakra to his feet to stand on the water surface and chased his rival down. Kurenai, of course, ran away, preventing all close contact from happening but Neji was smarter than that, he threw a never-ending horde of weapons at her to conceal the one kunai with a piece of long wire attached to it. Kurenai managed to dodge all the weapons and block the ones she couldn't with a kunai she caught. One particular kunai passed her, a piece of wire twinkled in the light and caught her perceptive eye. She cut the wire and saw the contender curse his luck. The relentless flock of weapons stopped in time for Neji to complete an ice jutsu, the water beneath them opened to swallow up Kurenai in an iceberg. Neji smirked victoriously but what he hadn't expected was that Kurenai released her chakra to melt the ice around her.

"Damn!" Neji cursed.

"You're not as smart as everyone thinks you are after all," Kurenai teased. Neji wasn't affected too much, "Perhaps Hinata-sama is more of a challenge than you are."

A flicker of fury sparked in the Hyuuga's pearly eyes. Before Kurenai could move, Neji charged with stupendous amount of speed and connected with Kurenai 's ribcage. He was about to perform his ultimate attack when he finally noticed that it was a clone. The real Kurenai wasn't anywhere in sight. In fact, Kurenai was hiding behind his blind spot and delivered a harmful blow to his spinal cord. Neji was knocked back and lost control of his chakra and began to sink in the water. He was close to losing consciousness until he heard some cheering from above the water. The density of the water muffled it but he could slightly make out the words.

Above in the crowd, everyone was quiet but staring at Naruto who was cheering his ass off.

"COME ON NEJI! GET UP AND KICK SOME ANBU BUTT! SHOW SOME HYUUGA PRIDE!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs. Neji heard every word and smiled, Naruto had returned from his training and he could hear him cheering in the crowd for him. It was the boy that everyone had made fun of, including himself because he was a dropout, but did he show Neji! The last time they fought was the chuunin exam and Naruto had come out on top. Naruto was going to change the Hyuuga's when he was Hokage, but he didn't even have to be Hokage to change it. After the tournament, his uncle came to apologize to him. Naruto had already dramatically changed it. –Naruto…- Neji swam to the surface where Kurenai was already getting praise from the crowd. –Damn that cocky wench.-

Neji climbed out of the water, "Yo."

Kurenai turned around; her expression betrayed her surprise, "Back for some more?"

"Yes, actually," Neji replied.

"Is that so?"

Neji didn't respond this time. He focused all his speed to chase Kurenai but just as he connected, he connected with smoke.

Kurenai was as a safe distance and watched it happen but another puff of smoke joined hers and before she knew it, Neji was behind her closing more of her tenketsu holes. Kurenai escaped him and sneered haplessly, "Okay, no more!"

With her one capable hand she performed another water jutsu, but Neji couldn't determine what it was, after she finished, nothing seemed to be out of place. Instead, he felt his chakra draining, "Are you starting to feel tired?"

"What the hell is going on?" Neji demanded to know.

"The water you're standing on," Kurenai pointed to the water beneath him, "Is draining all your chakra that you're putting to your feet to keep you standing on it."

-Dammit!- He fell to his knees, the jutsu was draining his chakra too fast. Before he could think of another plan, his chakra reserve was left with zilch. Neji failed but he passed out before he did.

In the crowd, Naruto's jaw slacked at Neji's defeat. He was defeated so easily to Naruto, he didn't even know that the ANBU here were so good.

"Where have I been all along?" Naruto asked himself.

Jiraiya scoffed and replied, "You were training with me, baka! You can do better than those jounins, you beat the boy before didn't you?"

Naruto nodded dumbly and returned his attention to the arena below. It was the mysterious shinobi's turn and she was against the best of them yet, Genma. Tsunade couldn't help but chuckle at the pairing. Genma, her henchman, stood across from the kunoichi with a bored stare through his half-lidded eyes. But his thoughts were a little different. Although the girl was pleasing to the eyes, he had never really paid attention to her before, her previous records were not very helpful, she had taken the chuunin test twice and the jounin exam the year after that, she progressed quickly, so she must be good. She did look a little similar to this one genin during a chuunin test before the attack of Sand and Sound but it was hard to verify, she was wearing a damn mask. Other than that, he had never noticed her before.

"The next battle," the referee announced, "between Genma and Haruno Sakura."

Jaws went slack. The senbon in Genma's mouth almost fell out. –So she _is_ the same little, pink-headed girl.- The crowd around them cheered noisily but Tsunade was the loudest of all.

"GO, GO, GO, SAKURA-CHAN!" Tsunade shouted. Naruto and Jiraiya were thoroughly shocked to say the least. Naruto looked at the kunoichi on the battlefield, edging dangerously over the railing to the point he almost fell off. –Sakura-chan sure did grow!- She was hardly recognizable. He couldn't believe his eyes; he couldn't believe that that shorthaired shinobi was his Sakura-chan! That she was trying out to be ANBU, sure he was proud even jealous but could she take the pressure? She sure seemed a lot more dangerous than she use to. Maybe she was.

Down in the arena, it was still sloshing with gallons of water as the battle commenced. Genma noticed her eyes were radiating with a horrible gleam of amusement. To Genma, who was use to be intimidating, was not sure how to deal with an amused kunoichi, and it became bothersome to the extent that he had to begin, he spat the senbon in his mouth at her, aiming right between those jade irises. Sakura caught it between her fingers and smiled beneath her mask, her two fore fingers were joined with the rest, which already held two other senbons. She threw them at him and he blocked with a kunai but it was only a distraction. She pursued him with amazing speed and sent a fatal punch towards him. The punch broke the surface of the water, creating a wave raining over the crowd. She used that hand to support her instead while she executed a roundhouse kick, knocking Genma off balance before he could even fuller appear behind her,-How did she know I was going to be there!-

He fell on to the surface of the water and quicker then he could blink, she was by his side with one leg raised for a drop kick. He rolled away and let her heel break the surface of the water again, sending another wave raining over the rest of the audience. She watched him perform an earth jutsu, the ground shook beneath the water and opened to swallow the water and Sakura along with it. A sopping wet Naruto gasped in shock with the rest of the spectators, they had expected it to be the end of Sakura. Genma, however, did not. He stood cautiously on the wet dirt, waiting for Sakura's return. The moment was prolonged until he truly thought she wouldn't come back. He sighed and took out another senbon to suck on, unaware of Sakura's hands emerging from the earth and grasping his ankles tightly. She pulled him under and exploded out again, Genma still in her tightening grip, they were suspended in air as Sakura swung him around and released him, sending him hurtling back down and colliding into the arena wall.

Naruto and Jiraiya's eyes were bulging so much, Tsunade was afraid their eyes might fall out of their sockets.

"Sa-Sakura-chan," Naruto managed to stammer. It was obvious Tsunade had trained her since he had been gone, he could tell by the proud gleam in Tsunade's eyes. Her strength was stunning; it was like having another Tsunade! But her movement was lightning fast too, Naruto's eyes could hardly keep up and imagine how much faster she'd be without the weights! Sakura landed gracefully on to the battlefield, waiting patiently for Genma to attack. She caught his hand from behind her and twisted his arm around; she turned to meet his gaze, amusement still playing frivolously in her eyes. His other free arm took out a kunai to stab her but he stabbed his other arm instead, she had manipulated his arm to shield her at the last minute. She released him for him to recover; she wasn't fighting fairly, in fact she was fighting in his favour. She was giving him the chance to attack every time. By now, he could tell that she had been receiving extra training from a certain Hokage. He raised an eyebrow in the direction of Tsunade who was just acting girlishly, clapping her hands in approval. –Damn, that's why she's been gone so frequently, leaving me to deal with Shizune!- He clasped his hands together and released a fire jutsu. She instantly countered it without performing any seals with a water jutsu of the same type, water overpowered fire and blasted him back. After the attack ceased he threw a kunai, she bent back and watched the kunai skim above her breast armour. She flipped back and landed on her feet with the kunai in her hand.

"Too bad you didn't have perfect assets," Genma played her with a shrug, "Or I wouldn't have missed."

She didn't seem to mind; actually, he could see her grinning mischievously underneath the mask, "Would you like to measure?"

She was teasing him! The nerve! -Her emotions are properly kept- he thought, so he played along, just for fun, "Yes, of course. Just to make sure."

She began an attack this time also without seals, it was a wind attack!

"Sakura breeze no Jutsu!"

-Two compatible elements! Damn!- he was captured in a whirlwind of sharp and cutting cherry blossoms. He couldn't escape it so he had to fight it. He did another earth jutsu and raised an earth shield around him. Before it closed, Sakura sent a sutra in it. Within a matter of moments, the earth shield detonated from within. It was an explosion seal. Genma wasn't done though, he through relentless amounts of weapons at her, she dodged most and blocked others, those that hit her, hit a log instead. Quicker than anyone could blink, she had pinned Genma beneath her straddling legs that wrapped around his waist intimately and a kunai pending above his heart balanced between her one finger and his vest. She took the senbon in his mouth into hers leaving him completely unarmed, "I hope you have a measuring tape."

"Damn, woman," he smiled, painfully trying to hide his hardening member from the hovering girl on top of him.

"Are you boning?" she asked with her innocent façade. He blushed and averted his eyes from her captivating green ones.

"It only happens when there's a lovely woman on top of me," he replied honestly. She laughed at him quietly.

Naruto watched the interaction, but not without blushing like every other male in the audience. Sakura had fought an amazing battle and won! He was ecstatic and proud of his former teammate, mentally noting to talk to her later; he joined the crowd in a roar of praise when they announced she passed. Sakura was elated and released Genma a little hesitantly; he took it as a compliment as he congratulated her. She hadn't even had to use her bloodline limit, not that she was going to that is. She waved to the crowd and caught a glimpse of a particular blonde haired boy cheering the loudest, "Naruto!"

"SAKURA-CHAN!" He yelled out in response. He jumped defiantly from the bleachers to capture her in a hug, she hugged back fiercely savouring the scent of spicy ramen Naruto always carried. It was so appetizing; she just wanted to eat him up.

"I missed you so much, Naruto!" She confessed into the crook of Naruto's neck.

Naruto blushed, "Me too."

"Did you see me fight!" she asked excitedly, ready to boast to him how strong she was.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah! You kicked Genma's butt! I'm so proud!"

She pulled her mask off to reveal her sparkling smile, now Naruto could recognize her, "That reminds me!" She turned to the leaving Genma and shouted, "I owe you one, Genma-sempai!"

Genma turned his head around with a cocked eyebrow, "One what?"

She took her index fingers and drew around her back to her frontal chest. She smiled mischievously when he blushed and nodded before reeling off in the direction of the exit. She laughed when Naruto gave her a funny look but brushed it off, "You're done with your training?"

"Yeah, I came back to do the jounin exam only to find out you're a step ahead of me," he stuck out his tongue at her. She followed suit and they laughed it off. Tsunade came down and pulled her into a congratulating hug and then with the formal ceremony, "I'm so proud, Sakura, you really showed yourself off with the Tsunade-style."

Sakura grinned and accepted the pledge of allegiance and the ANBU mask. It represented nothing in particular; it looked like a normal human, one like Haku's when they first went to the Hidden Village of Mist. A Konoha leaf was carved where a forehead protector's would have been placed. To Sakura, it represented the ability to be able to retrieve Sasuke. She wore it over her face; her green eyes barely peered through the slits of the mask. –Sasuke, I'm coming after you!-

"Let's go celebrate with sake!" Tsunade suggested loudly. Everyone looked at her skeptically but joined in, roaring with laughter.

At the restaurant licensed for drinkers only… and friends of Tsunade, everyone downed a cup of sake, everyone but Lee, only too known as the Drunken Fist Fighter. Everyone that knew Sakura was there, partying hard. Sakura, Naruto, Tsunade and Jiraiya sat in one booth, "A toast to our Sakura-chan!"

"Toast!" Everyone raised their glasses in honour of Sakura, who was blushing because of all the attention she was receiving instead of the amount of alcohol her liver was filtering. She had high tolerance for alcohol thanks to a certain Hokage. The restaurant cleared some of the tables for the guests to dance because the music was pumped high and Sakura was feeling it! She spotted Genma with a measuring tape and bounced off her seat in his direction, "Genma-sempai!"

He smiled humbly, but the mood changed with the music as he used the tape as a whip and roped it around her waist and pulled her into his arms with a jerk of his hand. He shimmied the measuring tape up and wrapped it securely around her chest, "Hm, 47½ inches, not bad."

"What do you mean 'not bad'?" Sakura pretended to be insulted.

"Well, if I could see them in person…"Genma trailed off in a sarcastic tone. They laughed blissfully together.

Sakura returned to the table of cynical people, "What?"

"You sure have a way with men, Sakura-chan," Jiraiya noted blandly.

"I learn from your interactions with women, Jiraiya-sama," she poked fun at him.

Jiraiya looked at her with beaming proud eyes, "Atta girl!"

"You should see her in action, she has a waiting list you know!" Naruto added, laughing ecstatically at Sakura's deep blush.

"Including you, you know!" Sakura retorted jokingly.

Naruto feigned hurt, "But Sakura-chan, I thought I was your one and only man!"

Sakura laughed at his whine and hugged him, "You wish!" They fell into another round of laughter.

"First it was just kids your age, now she's got older men too!" Tsunade jabbed, "Tell, Sakura, how do you do it?"

"Well, with a body so much like yours, how couldn't I!" Tsunade laughed, obviously flattered at her comment.

Their jokes ceased as Naruto dragged her to the dance floor exuberantly, "Show me what you got!"

Sakura complied and moved her body against his well defined one. They moved with the rhythm of the music as Sakura observed Naruto learned more than just ninja moves during his training. The movements were sensual and captivating, temptation crawling underneath their skins like a disease, even the slightest touches made them that more erratic, a trailing hand here, a soft caress there. They moved in sync with each other and they could feel the eyes of masses around them staring. Roving over their bodies. Song after song morphed into each other, all of them stimulating and telling them to continue and they complied without hesitation.

Naruto noticed that during the years he was gone, Sakura had grown so beautifully, but more importantly, her attitude was more reckless, more like Naruto's own attitude. He had heard Ino tell them about her "Inner Sakura" and it sounded almost ridiculous, but not so much anymore. The two egos seemed to have melded into each other to form one being that was swaying her hips rhythmically with his.

Finally, a different song played, a slow song and Naruto was far too exhausted to carry on, so he returned to the table when Neji finally whisked her off. Tsunade and Jiraiya were snickering at him when he returned, "Damn, Naruto, you sure did shake what your mother gave ya!"

"Baka, I don't have a mother," he joked, not at all fazed by the fact that he didn't right now.

"Neji-kun," Sakura acknowledged, he pulled her into his arms as the rocked slowly with the sluggish tempo of the song. She rested her head on his chest, she was too tired to stand without help even though she didn't feel the same way that Neji felt.

"This may be the last time I'm blessed with the chance of speaking with you," Neji said softly. She made a noise that told him she acknowledged what he was saying.

"I hold you very dearly in my heart, do you know that?" he continued gently.

"I do," Sakura replied truthfully, she might have lied if it wasn't that alcohol was like a truth serum to her.

"Is that so?" he chuckled lightly. He didn't know that she was actually being honest with him. So he joked with her, "So why did you join ANBU then?"

"So I could seek Uchiha Sasuke," was her modest answer. Neji released her like she was poison to the touch. She didn't feel rejected, she felt bad. Sakura looked at him, his face was stone cold and expressionless. Although his face held no hint of feeling, his eyes were like an open book to her, she read every emotion that flickered in those pearly depths. She could even read hate coming from his eyes and she accepted it, she saw it coming even without her bloodline limit. But it didn't mean that she liked it, "I'm sorry, Neji-kun—"

"Don't be," he interrupted her, "Just…why didn't you tell me?"

"Same reason why I don't tell Lee, because I don't want to see you broken," Sakura replied. Her voice held no sympathy though, just truth. He nodded, "I'm glad you understand."

Neji took her hand again, "Can we finish our dance at least?"

"Of course," Sakura agreed softly. She ran her hand up and down his back to comfort him if he was feeling any pain. She wasn't nice, she wasn't mean, she was just good. The song ended and they faded away from each other, Sakura returned to the table to her 'gang', "Another one, eh Sakura?"

She shoved Jiraiya playfully and took a seat next to him, "Only cause you're the man for me."

Jiraiya blushed unabashedly and rubbed her lower back, she pinched his hand and twisted the flabby skin painfully, "AIEE!"

She turned to Naruto who pointed into his mouth with his tongue stuck out. She nodded and laughed and downed another cup of sake waiting for her to curve her lips on. The night dragged on and Sakura went home soberly, accompanied by Naruto, but not before getting a kiss on the cheek by every older man in the restaurant she knew. "Congratulations," they told her and she said thanks automatically, every man envied why she was ANBU, every man envied her goal in life, every man actually meant, "Good luck in finding Sasuke" and she said thanks automatically.

Naruto and Sakura were walking alone up the dark street towards her home in comfortable silence a joke now and then coming from Naruto. Finally, when all was silent, Sakura spoke, "I've really missed you, Naruto."

He slung his arm around her shoulder and leaned on her form some support, "I missed you too."

Naruto was somewhat staggering now, he didn't have half the alcohol tolerance she did, at least he could keep up with decent conversation. Obvious, alcohol only affected his physical capabilities. So she continued, "I miss our whole team seven."

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted in agreement, "Damn, Sasuke, if he wasn't so power-driven, we'd still be all together in this thing!"

She chuckled lightly and nodded, "I wanted to ask you a favour."

"Anything for Sakura-chan," he responded on impulse.

She smiled appreciatively, "After the jounin exam is done, I want you to come with me to find Sasuke."

Naruto stopped and looked at her, "I've been meaning to ask you the same thing."

They hooted blissfully and walked up Sakura's front steps.

"All right, bye."

Naruto tottered unevenly away; alcohol sure did a number on him. Sakura was about to invite him in but hesitated, she didn't want any funny business going on but she knew Naruto lived five blocks away from there and would probably collapse by the time he reached then end of her block, and she lived on the corner. So she called him back, "Naruto!"

He turned around, "Yeah?"

"Why don't you come in?"

"Is that an invitation? Not that I'm complaining," Naruto asked lecherously.

"You look like you're not gonna make it home. Why don't you stay over so I can escort you and your hangover to the Jounin exam?"

"All right," Naruto concluded and dragged himself up her steps again. She opened the door to her house and led him in, her hand holding his tightly. She turned on the hallway lights and pulled him up the stairs and into the bathroom. She left him there alone, instructing him to wash up first and then he could go lay down on her bed while she went next. He pulled off his flashy, lime green jacket and his white khaki shorts, his mismatched sleeved fishnet top, black undershirt and his blue and white striped boxers. He stepped into the small shower stall and pulled the knob to cold, trying to sober himself up. He became accustom to the coldness and reached out to find some soap, lathering it thickly on to his rough, tan skin. He finished as quickly as he could and dried up with the white towel she left him and dressed into the clothes she had also left him. Obviously, they weren't hers, he deduced that they were her father's, -where are her parents anyway?- she hadn't mentioned them once since he arrived. He collected his clothes and opened the door. Sakura stood patiently outside with her own clothes; he looked like the fourth face on the cliff above Konoha.

"Go lie down for a bit, I'll be right out," she repeated before closing the bathroom door. His aroma was prominent in there, the scent of ramen spices were usually coming from her kitchen not her bathroom. She took her time undoing all her straps and pulling off her weights and setting them neatly in the corner of her bathroom, next to the dirty laundry and on top of the drying machine. Most people had their laundry machine and drying machine some place else, but she found it convenient to keep it in her washroom. She took off her breast armour and slid out of her rubber pants and lastly, she unwound the bandages around her fingers. She stepped into the shower stall and noticed that the knob was turned to the far right, -Cold, good way to get rid of a hangover…and a boner too- she giggled softly as she thought. She pulled the knob to the little to the left, but cold enough to wash away the liquor in her bloodstream. She always felt cleaner in cold water.

Her shower was quicker than Naruto's despite the fact that she was a girl. She wrapped herself around with a pale pink towel and patted herself dry. She pulled on a black tee and some navy girl boxers, and headed out the door.

Naruto did as he was told, too tired to do otherwise and sat down on her bed. Her sheets were all a deep crimson as he rolled on top of it. He glanced over his shoulder and on to her night table. There was a clock that said 2:17 am and a white, modern lamp, and a picture. He had one just like it in his apartment and so did Sasuke and Kaka-sensei, it was the picture of team seven. He stood on the right and Sasuke on the left, glaring at each other. Sakura stood in the middle holding her hand in a peace sign and Kaka-sensei was behind her with each hand on the boys' shoulders. –Damn, I sure miss those days.- he thought and fell into a deep slumber.

When Sakura returned, she found Naruto sprawled across her bed, asleep. She didn't have the heart to wake him up so she crawled on to bed beside him, but she did have the heart to give him the scare of his life when he woke up. She took off her clothes until she was only garbed in a black strapless bra and a pair of matching black panties, -he's gonna freak!- she thought deviously. She lay back down and risked draping his arm over her body and between her breasts. She entwined her fingers into his for effect and pulled him close behind her and drifted off to sleep.

Naruto was the first to wake up, he didn't dare open his eyes though, he felt a warm entity next to him and snuggled up closer, waking said entity. She blinked her eyes open and didn't move since, waiting for Naruto to screech. Naruto was wide-awake now, can't bearing the bright sun burning through his eyelids. His blue eyes fluttered open to a pale back, he instinctively jumped and screeched, much to Sakura's delight. His arm was wrapped around her body and tucked securely in her bosom, his fingers knotted with hers. Sakura stifled a giggle but her shoulders couldn't help but shake so she laughed aloud. She turned to give Naruto a good look at her almost naked body.

"Sa-Sakura-chan, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do anything bad!" Naruto begged forgiveness, as she laughed so hard, she began rolling around in bed.

"We didn't do anything Naruto, you fell asleep in my bed so I thought I'd scare you!" She said, wiping a tear from her eyes. He registered this information and laughed too.

"I'm gonna get you!" And before she knew it, Naruto had pinned her in place and nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply her floral scent she upheld with her name. And she let him; reveling in the attention she craved from him since the day he left. Even though she would never love him like she loved Sasuke, she loved him like a brother, like family. With her supposed super-strength, she pushed him down and did the same, "God, I've missed you so much, you baka!"

She listened as her purred in response like an animal. The morning was young and they took their time getting ready for the jounin exam. She gave him an aspirin just in case and they left her house.

"Hey, I've meaning to ask you, since you gave me your dad's clothes to wear," Naruto began, "Where are your folks anyway?"

"They died on a mission," she replied.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, gomen," he apologized for bringing it up.

She shook her head and told him it was all right, "It's like bringing up Sasuke."

He smiled, "We'll bring him back, even if we have to drag him back by the scruff of his neck!"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH!"

"_It's been three years_," Too many people only anticipated for three years to pass.

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**Mikomi:** chaptuhh 2 is officially done WHOT! It didn't take as long as I expected. It didn't take as long as the first chapter either! I tried to keep the characters in character especially Sakura, she was tricky so I had to meld her two egos together. Thanks for all the rave reviews, love 'em all!


	3. Change In Plans Sakura Tree

**Mikomi: **yes chapter three everybody! I'm on a roll! In this chapter, expect: three part story alternating. I like doing that, everyone has a different path until in the end all the paths collide into each other! Everyone has plans, but they're gonna have to change a bit because of each other. Thanks again for all the reviews, what would I do without you people! sigh I haven't the slightest clue… well the point is I do so lets get this on!

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Title: Hunter and Hunted 

**Disclaimers:** everything from last time

**Chapter Tree**(too bad I ain't Chinese) Change In Plans (Sakura Tree)

The room was dark and conversation was seldom made unless _he_ felt like talking. His lapdog was out gathering information for _him_. Only people like Orochimaru got the respect they demanded, but a different kind of respect, a respect out of fear, because they feared him, they feared the immaculate amount of power he had and soon Sasuke would have that power too. And that was all he needed, power. He needed power because he wanted to his only family left, -my dear brother- Uchiha Itachi. But power came at a very high price, especially with the kind of power Orochimaru would grant to him, and of course he was aware of this from the beginning. He knew why Orochimaru would give him power so willingly; soon, he would need a new container for his soul, a new body to perform the ultimate forbidden Jutsu, reincarnation.

But Sasuke had different plans, plans that meant him still keeping his body and having power. He would kill those who would oppose these plans and then he would eventually return to his home. To his new family, and this time he had no reason to leave again. Too bad for him, Orochimaru had plans too, plans that would involve him returning at an unscheduled time.

"Sasuke-kun," he beckoned for him, and he complied tentatively. He was not so sure what to make of this character, Orochimaru, but he knew that if he wanted power than Orochimaru had to have everything Sasuke could please him with, "You know what time it is, do you not?"

"Hai," was Sasuke's polite and simple reply.

"Good, good, because you see, before this power is arranged to you," Orochimaru continued, his golden eyes sticky and bitterly sweet like honey flickered with glee as he gazed upon the dark haired boy named Sasuke, "I need you to do me a favour."

"Anything for Orochimaru-sama," Sasuke emphasized cynically, -As in anything for power- He paid close attention to Orochimaru and noticed that he was greatly pleased at what he had said. He smiled like a sly cat, his eyes squinting in merriment.

"Lovely," he said, he was a twisted fellow, taking the meaning of sadistic and warping it to fit his description, "I need you, Sasuke-kun, to go home to Konoha, and fetch me something very important."

Sasuke nodded curtly and left the room without dismissal. He raced to his chambers and boiled angrily at the wicked man called Orochimaru. He was disgusted by himself for say anything and now he regretted it, -Damn, why would he send me back now after all I've done! That bastard!- He couldn't return to Konoha without bringing back his brother's head to hang above his fireplace. He couldn't return now! He's done far too much damage, almost killing his best friend, jeopardizing others in life and death situations, hurting Sakura…-Dammit, why now of all times!- Before he could have a chance to figure it out, a knock on the door disturbed him from his silent rants.

The doorknob twisted open and outside stood Kabuto. He was probably back from snooping.

"Oi, Sasuke-kun, here is what you are to return for, bring it back unscathed, says Orochimaru-sama, he wants it perfectly unmarred," Kabuto handed him the manila envelope and left, politely closing the door behind. Sasuke could have sworn he saw the sneak smirk at him before he left. Something was wrong and he quickly opened the envelope before he tore it to shreds.

One whole sheet of paper was inside. There was a photo and little description of the person on it. Sasuke's eyes widened, the photo was of a kunoichi from Konoha from which he'd known all his childhood, a pink haired shinobi with green eyes and amazing chakra control and excelling healing properties. –Haruno Sakura- But these records a three years old, there was nothing else on the sheet of decadent paper. Perhaps he didn't need anything else to find her with, anyways, how many kunoichi in Konoha had pink hair and green eyes? None other than Sakura-chan, -Sakura-

Why did he want her anyway? He knew if he turned this opportunity down then his whole plan would fail but he was obliged to do this, unwillingly. Another plan began formulating in his head now, a bigger and better plan, he'd go and get Sakura, and he'd follow through with the rest. He resisted the urge to just bust out in a maniacal laughter that would make Orochimaru proud and kept his sinister gaiety to himself. Everyone thought he was a fool, would they even think that he would actually be their savior?

"No."

Plain simple and to the point, for some. Naruto still couldn't understand why Tsunade rejected their admission to find Sasuke. Sakura hasn't said a word of protest towards her, he noticed, she just stood quietly behind him, watching in a fascinated fashion, analyzing the situation you could call it. It had been a whole 4 minutes since Naruto finished the exam, not quite clear if he passed or not, but Sakura assured him that he did, and pulled her to Tsunade's office. Now, Naruto stood, aggravated, in front of Tsunade, his hands dug into her desk and a ugly frown swept his face. To Tsunade, he was increasingly looking like the Fourth Hokage with every passing second, "Tsunade-obaachan, we _need_ to rescue Sasuke from the evil clutches of Orochimaru!"

Tsunade tried to listen to his insistent whining patiently, and to Naruto's dismay, objected sternly, "What part of 'No' don't you understand—"

"The whole thing," Naruto interrupted hastily, "Just let us go, we're capable adults…and we can take care of ourselves…"

Somehow, what Naruto just said wasn't so convincing, "No, I forbid you to set foot out of Konoha territory!"

Sakura knew this law well. For the past three years, she had been caged in the village, forced to be part of the tactical division as a commander strategist. Although she had smarts, her abilities stretched to strength now too, qualifying her for hunter-nin status, but her test to apply wasn't so good…

"Okay, Sakura-chan," Tsunade handed her sheet of paper without hesitation, "If you want to be a hunter-nin so badly, take this test, all participants must take this test to assure us that they're capable of their duties."

Sakura harrumphed confidently and snatched the paper brusquely from her hands. She looked over the test questions and gulped. Questions like: have you ever killed anybody? How long does it take you to kill? Do you hesitating before killing? Do you enjoy the sight of blood? Have you ever tasted blood? Does blood encourage you to kill? Appeared on the test. For Kami sake, they were multiple choices too!

So Sakura did not pass the test, she couldn't continue the test without answering the first question for that matter. Sakura was interrupted from the grim memory when Naruto started whining at her, she snapped out of thought and returned to the situation at hand.

"Sakura-chan, tell her to let us go!" Naruto complained like a four-year-old child, she noted.

She sighed and gave it her best shot, "Tsunade-sama, we are—erm—I am a responsible person, it would be honourable if we tried our best to save a dear friend."

"Sakura, you know why I bar you from leaving this village, it is absolutely out of the question!" Tsunade warned. Her honey glazed eyes narrowed threateningly as well, she meant every word she said with every intent of even binding her to herself if so be it.

"Then what now!" Naruto reentered the argument, "What are we suppose to do when our BFF is ripped of his own soul to make place for Orochimaru's! You can't expect anyone, especially us, to just sit around and wait for him to come and boast about how beautiful he looks in Sasuke's body."

Naruto shivered at his own comment. He never knew he could be so serious. He challenged her glare with his own, and they bore huge commitment to Sasuke as Tsunade could tell. Their battle between glares lasted for over a minute until Tsunade averted hers despairingly and sighed. Naruto celebrated inwardly, but victory was not yet achieved, "I'll let you go when we receive word of where they are are."

As if on cue, Genma burst through the door unceremoniously, he prompted a quick bow and Tsunade permitted him to speak, "We've located Sasuke!"

He blurted like it was the most important thing in the world, well, it kinda was. Tsunade glared at him crossly, like she was ready to rip his head off with her bare teeth. Right now they were looking rather sharp to him as she growled, revealing her obtrusive canines, but he was distracted from that when Sakura glomped him joyously like a fangirl, his face in her cleavage. He would have said he could've enjoyed it if Naruto wasn't doing the same, "Was it something I said?"

Tsunade dismissed him, mentally noting to get revenge later on that day. The young hopefuls looked at her wit gleaming eyes, "All right. I'll promote Naruto to temporary ANBU for now, but you don't get a tattoo. And I'll have another ANBU waiting for you halfway there."

Even though a babysitter was not too welcomed, they were satisfied and left before Tsunade changed her mind. Before stepping out the door, Tsunade grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him back to speak with him privately. No matter how warm the colour of her eyes were, the way they were set now were stone cold and chilled him to the bone, even colder than the shower last night, "Naruto, you're aware that Akatsuki is after aren't you?"

"Hai," he replied gravely to match her impassiveness.

She nodded in approval, "Aside from that, I don't want a single hair on Sakura harmed! Bring both your asses back here safe and sound, whether or not you retrieve Sasuke. I know saying that was useless but you have to listen to me, both your life and Sakura's are very valuable and very in danger. I will hunt you down myself if it comes to it. Just come back. Promise me you will."

"I promise," Naruto said. He meant every two word of it and she could tell. He embraced her and left without another word. Although he had no parents, he was pretty damn sure Tsunade and Jiraiya came as close to it as possible.

He headed out after Sakura back to her house and suited up. She replaced her casual wear with the other day's ANBU apparel along with weights and mask. She slid her sword in her belt and saw Naruto hadn't changed much. He was still wearing his loud looking, lime green, sleeveless jacket but he had placed the mask she had grabbed for him on the way out. It was a fox with swirls on each cheek; closely representing Naruto with it's slit eyes. Other than that, Naruto hadn't changed at all.

"Take that off," she ordered.

"Pardon?" Naruto sputtered from underneath his mask, shocked at the shameless way Sakura had told him to, well, strip. She didn't bother to repeat or explain herself so she yanked his jacket over his head and threw it expertly into the washing machine. Underneath the jacket was a mismatched sleeve fishnet top and underneath it was a fitting, black, sheer undershirt, rippling along his well-toned body, not that she noticed. Under her inspection, Naruto felt naked as he covered his already well-covered chest with his hands.

"Here, try this on," she tossed him an upper body plate of armour, traditionally used for ANBU but so much anymore. His loose fishnet collar, she noticed, was zip up, so she took his mask off and pulled his collar over his jaw, covering most of his chin and replaced the mask, "Perfect."

"Okay, let's go!" Naruto commanded eagerly. They strapped on their weapon holsters and began their journey as they leapt from the second story window and on to the rooftops of Konoha. They traveled slowly, taking in the scenery one last time before leaving. For Sakura, it had been a relief to get out of the village, she hadn't left for quite a while without heavy security. For Naruto, it was a bit despairing to leave once again, hardly catching a glimpse and a bowl of ramen before leaving, - Am I ever going to stay for good?- Naruto thought sadly. They passed the gates of Konoha and left premises of home as soon as they did, they were alone now, their mission was simple, to retrieve, and to Sakura, dead or alive. Their speed increased unbelievably as the view from the hidden village faded, Sakura led at an outrageous rate of speed. Naruto could barely deem how much Sakura had changed over the years he was gone. She had improved so much in strength, to be truthful. She was like a bud in bloom; it made him seem dull, like his childhood days have dulled into a somewhat more mature Naruto.

He shivered at the thought, he was still the obnoxious boy from next door, just hotter. He smirked, he liked that supposition much better. He thoughts returned to his friend, Sasuke. He remembered exactly their last encounter, their final fight. It was so heartbreaking but he was too determined to let him get away, in the end though, he did get away, but he left him alive and that was what puzzled him until today. He wondered if it already happened…No, he would know if it did. They were best friends, even if they died before admitting it. Then he thought of how Sakura felt while the time Sasuke was gone, he knew she loved him…a lot. The time he returned empty handed, the faux facial expression she gave him, the happiness she portrayed, it hurt him so much. He looked at her now, "Hey, Naruto…"

"We'll get him back, Sakura-chan, we will," Naruto replied on instinct.

Sakura smiled at him appreciatively, "Yeah," she agreed and chuckled to herself, she was just going to ask if he had the time so she had to check it herself with a pinch of her Shinganbyuu. No one would notice.

"Oi," the blue skinned man called out, "It's back."

He said it kind of sing-songlike that made him, if he had not already ignored him by instinct, which he did. The tall, blue man-fish thing had just popped his head in comically through his doorway bubbling about such and such. And he continued to pointedly ignore him and concentrated on the nothingness before him instead of listening to him. It was much harder than when he had something to scrutinize like a tree or whatnot, as nonchalantly as he could, which he could, he finally responded, "All right, I'll bite, what is back?"

He almost bit out the words but the other end or rather so far the only end of the conversation smiled delightfully and answered, "The _power_. What else?"

He snapped his attention to the doorway and stared intently on the head to continue. He saw the head bob up and down while snickering at him. He was not amused. But Kisame sure was. Finally catching sight of his glare, his snickering simmered down a bit before he continued.

"The power, Akatsuki had just felt it recently heading out from Konoha towards Sound," Kisame said, it was like feeding newborn milk, "It was only a small and faint blip, they said, they only felt it pulse twice and then it was gone but they were fortunate enough to be near it and sense it. They also spotted another ANBU operative suspecting to be intercepting with them and joining them."

"Them?" he asked. Were there more than just one that carried the power?

"We've lucked out, they've confirmed that Kyuubi is there too," Kisame added. Itachi, although he may not show it, was overjoyed coated with sadism. They've delayed the Kyuubi just to get a closer look on this power and over the years they had gathered nothing. They felt the power only once, knowing that it came form Konoha, and since then they've felt nothing else. Even though they've kept a close eye on the village, the power was just no longer there. So they left the village and scoured the rest of the country and other countries as well. No luck. But here they were with both it and the Kyuubi within their grasp and all he needed to do was reach out. Could it be that the Kyuubi boy was also the carrier of the mysterious power? It was quite plausible. He had heard of no other such power.

Others said that it was a powerful bloodline, much stronger than both the Sharingan and the Byaakugan and it was impossible to copy. Itachi did not like the sound of it, either he would kill it, if he could, or he would try to manipulate it, -What can be so much stronger than the Sharingan that can make this Itachi, perhaps, afraid?-

No, he didn't like the sound of that at all. And so he would search this _power_ out and take it by all means necessary. He was no longer paying attention to Kisame, his mind was too busy devising a plan, a brilliant plan only expected of him. He abruptly stood up and pulled his robe off, letting it fall of his shoulders and pool around his feet, leaving him garbed in his fishnet top and his pants that were bound at the bottom with black gauze. He wore a selection of neckwear as they jingled and clattered when he walked to his closet.

Kisame had stopped talking when it had just become too awkward and watched him in silence move away from his location. Itachi screeched open the closet door that displayed how truly long he had not opened it. Inside there was not a single thing but a wooden chest. There was a lock on it and he had no key, long ago believing that he would not need it anymore. He held the lock that filled up his hold on it and crushed it with all his strength and tore it off brutally. He opened the chest, also creaking open. Within it were armour, a mask, some weapons and a photo of his only _living_ relative, his younger fool of a brother, Uchiha Sasuke. He strapped on the armour, which was scarred from battle after battle, and placed his mask nostalgically on his face. He pulled the weapons on, although they were dull, in his hands, they were the most deadly arsenal in the country. He pulled off his butchered head protector and reveled in the feeling of lightness without the cloak on for so long.

"What are you up to, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked jokingly.

"I'm going alone." He replied indirectly. He passed the blue head in the doorway and, unfortunately, saw the rest of the body still connected securely to the head as he towered over him. But heights didn't make the man; well he wasn't exactly a man anyway. Itachi walked right on without even a nonchalant "goodbye" and out the main hallway doors. Kisame watched insultingly and turned and headed the other way with his chin held up high.

If he was lucky, he could get there before the other ANBU operative and replace him instead, they wouldn't know the difference. But chances are that the ANBU was already there waiting for them, in that case, then he would have to kill the ANBU and then dispose of his body else where. Then again, they could already be traveling together. Other plans were slowly formulating with each scenario that could happen.

-We'll see once we get there-

Sasuke stood above Konoha now. He was on the Hokage cliff just staring down at his home, it looked exactly like how it did when he left that fateful night. He wondered, did his friends still look the same, did they still feel the same about him. No, things change, he changed, and they changed. Nothing is the same since the day he left. He was about to go down but decided it was a bad idea, -Can't go down there like some casual person when you're actually a missing-nin- he sighed miserably and thought of changing into his friends, but he didn't know how they looked like anymore. He didn't know them anymore for that matter.

Not too far below, he saw the fifth Hokage make her way down the steps with some papers in her arms. She still looked the same and you could count on her to always look the same. Whatever she looked like, she always looked like a young woman, not a day over thirty because of her genjutsu. So he decided that she was his best bet, he transformed into the Hokage and went down at the velocity the angle of the cliff gave him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched a flash of green and gold bolt down the cliff and sneered, -What a bad impression of me! My breasts are much bigger than that!- She dropped the stack of paper in her arms and abandoned her duties to go investigate the fraud and expose them for the phony they were. She flew down after the imposter and pursued him in secret as the fake Tsunade wandered around town. They went past the Yamanaka floral shop and some other clothing stores. They went to Naruto's empty apartment and to the bridge and the training fields. So far, they hadn't noticed her, or they did and they chose not to show it. They were heading to Ichiraku Ramen stand until it hit Tsunade, they were going to all the places that were likely to have Naruto or Sakura. There was one more place to go as a brilliant plan began to form in her mind. She raced ahead of the fake and came into Sakura's house, "Henge."

She had transformed into a make believe Sakura, one she imagined without her influence. It looked like the old Sakura, only with long hair and tall body with a flatter chest and less alcohol tolerance for that matter. She sat down on the red duvet in Sakura's room to catch her breath before the doorbell expectedly rang. She bounded downstairs and put on her best Sakura expression she could possess and she possessed one, after all, she had spent three years getting to know every inch of Sakura's personality, if anyone knew how to act like Sakura, she did. "Sakura" opened the door and smiled brightly at the "Hokage", "Ohayo, Tsunade-sama, please come in."

"Tsunade" stepped in without hesitation, "Sakura, there's something I need to show you."

"Sakura" grew and anxious face and waited for the "Hokage" to continue. The image of herself faded away to show a grown man with dark hair and pale skin, good-naturedly, she gasped, "S-Sasuke-kun?.."

"Sakura…" he said softly to confirm. She leapt into a hug and wrapped her arms tightly around him, making it as realistic as possible. He wrapped his arms loosely around her waist but in a blink of an eye, his arms were either pulled back or stepped on. He felt a heeled shoe pressed painfully into his back and daring to crush his spinal cord. He turned his head around to catch a glimpse of, "Tsunade-sama!"

"That's right, hotshot," Tsunade snarled at him viciously, "I know what you're after, what _he's_ after and you can forget about it!"

-Damn, she knows everything- he cursed her brilliance and struggled but she only pressed his back harder and pulled his arm farther. He groaned in pain, "I was going to rescue her a—"

"After you've achieved your power? Some hero," she spat. Sasuke was really annoyed at how she could tell all his moves. He looked up at her warm eyes that were blazing now.

"Where is she?"

"Ironic, she's out saving you!"

His plans were going all wrong now. All that life written now had to be erased for some editing, the kind he didn't like. Things weren't suppose to go like this, he was suppose to have power, he was suppose to be the hero, -Damn it all!- He stopped struggling and laid limp on the ground. Tsunade released him and let him turn around to face her, an apology written on his placid face. She scoffed and picked him up by the collar, she glared at his averted eyes and snarled inwardly, "Don't you let him take her, because I will kill the last Uchiha in this village for it."

She was protective of Sakura, if anything happened to her, she would make sure that her death would be avenged more than enough. She threw the boy down, disappointed in him and in Sakura for loving him. She poofed out of sight and returned to work without a lapse in time. Kind of. Sasuke saw the rage and hate in her eyes, but no one understood what he was trying to do here. But he left it at that, -They can hate me all they want. They'll see, they'll be thanking me with their lives for what I've done.- Sasuke stood up and let his hair curtain a shadow over his face. He smiled, almost maliciously.

He left Konoha without any attention, right now his main concern was Sakura falling into Orochimaru's trap, he shot out after her, hoping he could catch up to her before it was too late.

Sakura was sitting patiently in a tree and Naruto not as patient by its roots. _Lounging_. The wind blew wistfully, but something was carried in between all that wistfulness, something playful like the little five petal pink flower that landed coincidently in it's name sake's lap, -Where did you come from?- she asked herself dumbly, she knew she was sitting on a cherry blossom tree. The petals were everywhere in sight, thickening the air with it's sweet smell. Naruto lay almost buried in it. But he did not mind, it smelled like Sakura was every which way he could smell and he liked it.

They'd been waiting for an hour and a half…or more. Time didn't really matter anymore, they were lost in the peace of it all, the peace that everyone longed for. Sakura loved the wind, and the water, the two elements Tsunade once told her that she was so agreeable with. And it was true. She had learned to manipulate wind and water without seals. She wasn't sure if it was because of her bloodline limit or if it was just her, she hoped it was just her, every time she thought of the limit, she felt lonely, like she was the only one of her kind left. It must be how Sasuke feels like, lonely and painful, like Naruto too. Everyone was alone, but those alone should be together to cease that feeling…so why did everyone leave?

She took the sakura flower into her hand and dropped it. She watched it fall on to Naruto's nose lightly, he was looking up at her with his eyes closed but as the flower gently landed on the tip of his nose, Naruto fluttered his stormy blue eyes open to her. They stared at each other for a long time in silence; this was what she was missing all those days of loneliness, recognition of family. Care from a brother, adoration from a mentor and love from her lover. Why didn't life always go like it should? –That's what makes it fun- she thought impishly.

As the minutes ticked by unnoticeably, Naruto shifted his eyes away from her. The rustle in the nearby woods came within earshot of him and made him snap his head in its direction. He slipped on his mask and Sakura followed suit. From the bushes and trees of the dark woods, an ANBU mask appeared into the clearing of the cherry blossom tree, "Gomen, I got lost on the road of life."

Instinctively, Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison as though they had practiced this time and time again, "LIARRR!"

"Hm, I wasn't aware I already used it on you—" he was cut short by realization. His eyes shot open from under his mask. Sakura and Naruto had been taken back at their reaction and what they had reacted to. Silence. More silence. Until Naruto slowly, bravely, and brashly, lifted the fox mask from his face, and asked dumbly, "Kaka-sensei?"

He had silver hair pulled back like there was always wind in front of him, he had a black and long collared, sleeveless shirt that covered his face like a mask, in his weapon holster belt, was an orange book peaking out like a criminal. The mask that was just removed revealed a bored, half-lidded eye and another mismatched one of Sharingan with a scar over it, "Aa."

Naruto pulled him into a warm hug between student and tutor, and Kakashi returned the hug and smiled brightly from underneath his second mask when he heard a small sniffle from the boy, -Naruto…- he looked at the girl ANBU in the tree looking like she had never left her state of shock, her mask was still on but her hair was still pink. He pulled away from Naruto and walked up to the tree and tilted his head further back as he did to keep his eyes on her, -Who is she?-

Kakashi didn't have a clue. He knew who it was but at the same time he was having difficulty actually believing it was she. Was it her? He couldn't tell anymore, he had been away too long. He couldn't remember how her face even looked like, if her hair wasn't pink he would have been sure that it wasn't her but then something always told him it was. He stood there, underneath the tree, underneath _her_, whoever she was. She jumped off the tree and he had caught her before she had landed, he set her down and didn't let go of her waist until one hand left it to remove the mask. It fell to the sakura covered grass with a clack. His heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were still green too. Her skin was still fair. Her hair was no longer the length he remembered it use to be. Her face was no longer as revealing as she wore a mask like he. She was no longer a child as her head would have fit nicely over his shoulder and her body filled out all the measurements, "Sakura…"

She pulled him in for a hug, resting her chin on his shoulder like it was suppose to go there. He rubbed her back up and down like she had done for Neji. She wanted to cry but no tears came to her eyes only laughter in her voice, "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you kids too," he replied softly and lazily like he always did. He looked from Sakura to Naruto and chuckled, "I thought _you_ were _my_ sensei."

"So I've been told," Naruto grinned.

"I'm so proud of you guys, ANBU already?" he commented with pride.

"Well, actually, I just came back and finished my jounin tests," Naruto rubbed the back of his head earnestly, "Sakura's the only ANBU that passed this year."

"Is that so?" Kakashi looked at Sakura and caressed he cheek lightly. To say he was surprised was affirmative. Sakura had surpassed her teammates when she had begun a little behind them. But he knew with buckets of her determination, she could do anything. He smiled at her proudly, she could tell how his eyes were arched with happiness. He was still good old Kaka-sensei but a little older without his forehead protector and his other eye showing. She returned the smile gratefully, she never felt alone with Kakashi, he was with her through thick and thin, he never left her behind. Until missions began increasing, taking him away from her. He was back now, -they were back now- she thought as she looked to Naruto, -just one more and they could all go home together.

"Come on, lets get a move on," she commanded and everyone slipped their mask back on and sprung from tree to tree. This was what she was missing all those years, to be out on missions with team seven again was exhilarating and exciting. Euphoria washed through her like a wave of fresh water, -Only one more- she thought again, kicking her speed up a notch. She wasn't the one left behind anymore, she was the one leading in front and she'll be staying up there for awhile because she liked it there. She hadn't felt this happy in years, three years to be exact. Kakashi had really picked her up from where she fell, and the way he had looked her up and down made her smirk but at the same time it made butterflies tickle her belly. She shivered, but it wasn't because she was cold, she looked back at them, at _him_. He was looking at her, admiring her, something that felt much more rewarding than everyone else's respect. -Much _more_ rewarding.-

"Ne, ne, slow down, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried out. She complied and slowed down to run next to them instead.

-This is what I've been missing…-

They continued but Sakura hadn't left the feeling of them being followed gone unnoticed. Maybe she was paranoid or she was just imagining things. Maybe she wasn't.

Not too far behind, Itachi stepped into the clearing of the sakura tree. They had definitely been there but they had left and even worse, they had left with the ANBU. He was close though, he could feel it, he crouched down to the ground and took a look at their footsteps before the wind swept it away cautiously. He stood and unexpectedly, a five petal pink flower landed on thinned lips, he was not taken back though, instead, he allowed the flower to do its ministrations across his lips before watching it fall away. Before long, it was lost amongst the petals on the ground but it was not forgotten by Itachi.

He continued along the trail of the power with the memory of the flower in tow. The sensation never faded away, it lingered and it made him want to return and savour it a little longer but he did not comply. He never did. Instead, he felt fingers wriggle into his fisted hands, he looked to the hand to expect slender and dainty fingers but there were none, there was only the five petal pink flower. He did not know what to do, how to feel, was it not suppose to occur naturally? Or it would have if he weren't so impassive. His mind was always playing games such as these with him, so why did each time that it played, he would go along? Like now for example, his mind was doing it again.

He looked at the flower, glared at it supposedly, because it confused him and it made him senseless. He did not like the feeling but he couldn't help but revel in it. He pocketed the flower in his weapon holster, it was his only pocket anyway. He wanted to keep it forever, possibly, care for it and maybe love it. Was he capable of these emotions? He was capable of anything, like killing his best friend for power, and massacring his clan for control, joining Akatsuki for title. Yet, all these things were not what he had in mind, everything he has done was selfish, and everything he wanted to do was selfless. He was not so sure he would be capable after all. His mind was playing games with him again. He had set out hating everything and now, his purpose was converting into something else.

Power came from hate, he had declared. But hate did not allow him to keep, care or love something, it was the complete antonym of such things. Basically, he was a controversy to himself. He was fighting his own purpose, and he was fighting losing battle, he just didn't know which side was losing.

How would he sort himself out?

Was he not a killing machine? He is but he didn't want to be.

But did he not want power? He did but he doesn't know what the meaning of it is anymore.

Then what was her searching for? Power. Right?

Because Uchiha Itachi was a secure person even if he had killed his race. Uchiha Itachi always decided on something solidly. Uchiha Itachi hated, Uchiha Itachi killed, and Uchiha Itachi never hesitated. Until now. He took out the little flower again and stared at it absorbedly, it had struck a cord in him. He had never doubted his decision so much before but since this came along, decisions have never become so hard to make. His glare hardened at hit, he closed his fist to crush it but as he opened his fist slowly, he noticed it had evaded his attack, as he closed his fist before, the air pressure pushed it out of the way safely into the air.

He watched it float nicely towards the ground but he held out his hand for it to land softly into his grasp again. He noted it was a tricky little thing and decided to keep it after all. He had tried to manipulate it, in return it had manipulated him. He inaudibly sighed, not that anyone was listening anyway, feeling like he had wasted enough time and continued again. His mind returning to the flower every now and then.

So every often that soon it was all he could think of.

It was Sasuke's turn to end up in the meadow of the sakura tree where he spotted tracks in the ground leading in the direction of Orochimaru. Sasuke growled at the thought of him and made him want to retch, -They seemed to be a little bigger than Sakura's though- he thought. The design of the sole was also different, shinobi sandals left a stripped pattern in the ground, these left a flat and solid print like a flat flip-flop, -Is she with someone perhaps?- The possible thought of her being followed came directly into mind. He leapt from his spot crouched on the ground into a nearby tree and continued to track her down, the possible danger lurking closely behind.

Before long, he spotted someone ahead of him but before he accused anybody of murder, he noticed it was just ANBU, -Probably sent by Tsunade to privately escort Sakura- he was about to ask for confirmation when he decided it was best not to, especially for someone like himself, a missing-nin under tutelage of the most wanted criminal in all of the countries. He pointedly ignored him and chose an alternative route to get to Sakura.

He was still steaming over the fact how easily fooled he was by Tsunade and her disguise, he had truly believed it was Sakura that longed to be in his arms again. His need to find Sakura suddenly increased and still he had not caught up with her quite yet. Every time he thought he would be near, she was nowhere in sight, -How fast could she be going?- It was flattering that she was so determined to save him but if she didn't slow down there wouldn't be anybody saving him by the time he arrived.

"Oh, Sakura, you fool…"

"Naruto-baka, for the sixth and final time, we are not there yet!" She bellowed at him.

Two minutes later…

"Are we fucking there yet?" Naruto complained. Kakashi stifled a laugh; it reminded him of his own sensei too much, the ill-tempered, impatient yellow flash. He always wanted to get somewhere in a hurry. Sakura charlie-horsed him in the arm and smirked with satisfaction as he howled in pain, just like the good old times.

They were in Sound territory now and it became noticeable as the environment changed from Rice Country to Sound Village as the air staled, Sakura replied, "Almost."

"Thank Kami!" Naruto muttered.

The area seemed mostly dead, nothing seemed to be growing and those that did, all did in vain as they withered away. They were nearing the mountains and right on the other side was the dreaded Hidden Village of Sound.

"There are the mountains, Naruto," Sakura pointed out in bitterness.

"Aa," he replied just as bitter. They had been here before with Jiraiya, their purpose was to report back on the village but their true aim was to reclaim Sasuke. They had failed and Sakura had returned to Tsunade for medical training and Naruto went off for physical training. They failed then, what was saying that they weren't going to again? It's different now, they were experienced for one, two they were stronger, three they were going to do it, and despite whatever Tsunade said, they were going to die trying, or at least Naruto was, -Sorry, Tsunade-baabaa- The mission seemed like suicide itself but at least, they were in it together, Sakura, Kaka-sensei and he.

"Do we have a plan yet?" Kakashi asked blandly.

"Well, we've already been in Orochimaru's house before," Sakura replied, "No rooms for rent, they are all used for traps."

"I almost drowned," Naruto admitted, "And Ero-sennin was almost crushed in an elevator shaft room rigged with a pretty woman, so watch out for that one Kaka-sensei."

Kakashi sighed, "Thanks for the warning."

"It looks small on the outside, but it leads underground, there are mazes of rooms. We obviously can't go in and get out in a snap," Sakura stated calmly. They were still moving as they were thinking. Not wasting a second. Not two minutes later Sakura had an idea, "I've got it. We'll do it Naruto-style."

Naruto perked up and Kakashi prepared for the worst.

"We'll lure him out, we'll lure everyone out…" Sakura continued to explain her designs on rescuing Sasuke. Naruto thought it was an excellent idea, go figure. And Kakashi had to agree that it would have been the best option to go with.

Night had settled in and so had they as they sat down and began some familiar and light conversation while resting on a tree.

"…Che! Well, everyone already knows I want to be Hokage! What a stupid question," Naruto muttered when Kakashi asked him what he wanted to be after everything fell back into order.

"What about you, Sakura?" Kakashi turned to Sakura who was sitting above in the tree, stargazing.

"I want to be happy," Sakura replied instantly like she had practiced it. Kakashi thought she wasn't going to reply at first by the way she was so absorbed into the sky and was mildly surprised with her answer, "forever. I want to feel like this forever."

She was referring to how they had adjoined back into part of team seven, he could tell she was happy that she found them, "How is Konoha then?"

"It's empty, it doesn't feel like home anymore to me," Sakura replied truthfully, she felt young again because she was certain she had not drank any alcohol that evening.

"Where is home to you then?" He asked. He knew the answer, he just wanted to hear it come from her mouth. He wanted to hear her voice say it.

She looked down and smiled at him slyly, "Wherever you boys are, of course."

He chuckled lightly joined by Naruto as well.

"Even in my bed?" Naruto asked jokingly.

"Especially in your bed," Sakura played along and watched Naruto laughed out loud. Yes, she had definitely been missing this. She saw Kakashi shake his head slightly at the children's amusement, "What about you, is your bed homey?"

Sakura had found her way in between him and Naruto down by the roots of the tree. Kakashi grew a dark and intimidating demeanor and looked at her fiercely, "You'll have to find out for yourself."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh in his face instead of be afraid, "You look like that time you caught me and Sasuke feeding Naruto on your first test."

"I should have failed you," Kakashi sighed at his failed attempt.

"Why," Sakura pulled Naruto's head under her arm and displayed him like she was trying to sell him as a product, "would you waste such talent like this?"

Naruto gave him some puppy dog eyes and some pouted lips that made him guffaw wholeheartedly, "You remember that?"

"I remember everything," Sakura replied honestly. She released Naruto and let him rest his head on her shoulder as she rested hers on Kakashi's with an arm wrapped around Naruto.

"What else do you remember?"

"I remember you giving a 1000 years of pain to Naruto."

"Literally," Naruto added in.

"And I remember the time we tried to take off your mask, but failed."

"Well, not exactly, you got to see what was under it," Kakashi corrected.

"Yeah, _another_ mask," Naruto emphasized.

"I remember all the lame excuses you use to give us for being late."

"They were not lame."

"So you admit they were excuses," Sakura cocked an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"You didn't let me finish, as I was going to say, they were not excuses, they were the truth and nothing but the truth," he defended.

"Well, they got me out of a couple of messes," Naruto commented.

"You shouldn't lie, Naruto," Kakashi scolded.

"Speak for yourself, Kaka-sensei!" Sakura rebuked.

"I've never lie!"

"LIARRR!" Naruto and Sakura yelled out in unison and laughed it off.

And then all was quiet until Naruto yawned, and it contagiously spread to Kakashi and finally Sakura. Sakura's eyes drooped while Kakashi was already asleep and Naruto stayed awake to keep guard. When he thought everyone was asleep, he began to sang, something Sakura was surprised when she heard it beautifully fly into her ears.

Beauty queen of only eighteen, she Had some trouble with herself He was always there to help her, she Always belonged to someone else 

His voice was soft like she never expected it to be. You would never have thought it was Uzumaki Naruto singing in the night, practically serenading to her.

I've drove miles and miles and wound up at your door I've had you so many times but somehow I want more 

The lyrics he sang were so realistic, it made her inwardly shiver but appreciate him as well. No one was as caring as Naruto was to her.

I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the cold and rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved And she will be loved  
She hoped she was. Every time she felt alone back in the days, she always relied on Naruto to love her unconditionally, did that mean she was taking him for granted?  
Tap on my window knock on my door, I Wanna make you feel beautiful I know I tend to get so insecure Doesn't matter anymore  
She did, no one really knew, but sometimes when she was alone, she always found herself winding up at Naruto's apartment. At first he wasn't sure because of how she loved Sasuke but then he was more than happy to take her in.  
It's not always rainbows and butterflies It's compromising moves also love, yeah My heart is full and my door's always open You come anytime you want 

And she did.

I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the cold and rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved And she will be loved 

She was.

_And she will be loved_

She was loved.

_And she will be loved_

Naruto loved her.

_I know where you hide_

_Alone in your car_

_I know all the things that make you who are_

_I know that good bye mean nothing at all_

Comes back and makes me catch her every time she falls, yeah 

He truly did. He knew it best.

Tap on my window knock on my door, I 

_Wanna make you feel beautiful_

-You always make me feel beautiful, Naruto-

I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the cold and rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved 

_And she will be loved_

"Please don't try so hard to say goodbye."

Naruto looked at her, she was fast asleep, -how could she have sung that?-

He pressed his lips gently over hers, saving it just for her, he would always be there just for her.

He could have sworn she kissed back but when he finally pulled away, her lids were still shut and she was still asleep.

Please don't try to so hard to say goodbye 

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**Mikomi:** The song, which I also do not own, is Maroon 5- She Will Be Loved, I am so feeling that song right now even though it's a little OOC for Naruto, don't you guys think? But somehow I think music is very much affected in Naruto's life. Jiraiya might have something to do with his new found talent though…Ah, the clubs they hit. Anyway! READ AND REVIEW :D


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